Factors determining amounts of fluoride in woodlice Oniscus asellus and Porcellio scaber, litter and soil near an aluminium reduction plant.

Abstract

Amounts of fluoride were measured in whole woodlice Oniscus asellus and Porcellio scaber, together with associated soil and litter, from 17 sites near an aluminium reduction plant at Holyhead, Anglesey, in North Wales. There was a strong positive correlation between amounts of fluoride in woodlice, soil and litter in all comparisons (P<0.02). Highest and lowest fluoride concentrations in woodlice differed by a factor of >50. Where both woodlice species occurred together at the more polluted sites, fluoride levels in Oniscus asellus were generally twice as high as those found in Porcellio scaber. At any given site, amounts of environmental fluoride were determined partly by distance and direction from the pot-rooms of the plant (a function of prevailing winds), modified by the presence of trees which acted as collectors for gaseous and particulate fluoride.