Assessment of heavy metals in soil and terrestrial isopod Porcellio laevis in Tunisian industrialized areas

In this study, data on several metals (Cd, Pb, Zn and Cu) in soil and isopod Porcellio laevis taken at 21 sites from the most important industrial areas in Tunisia (Bizerte, Nabeul, Zaghouan, Sfax and Gabes) were presented. Heavy metal concentrations in both soil samples and isopods were determined using atomic absorption spectrometry. Soil contamination was estimated using the contamination factor (CF). On the other hand, the bioaccumulation factor (BAF) was determined to estimate metal accumulation in isopods. The CF values show that the level of contamination varies between sampled soils, which may be due to the source of pollution at each site. The BAF values allow defining the order of accumulation in P. laevis which was classified for the majority of the sampled sites as a macro-concentrator of Cu and Zn and a deconcentrator of Cd with some exceptions. A principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted between soil properties (pH, OM and CaCO₃) and metal concentrations in soils. Through PCA, we obtained four groups in which soils were distinguished by their physicochemical properties and their metal concentrations. Moreover, linear multiple regressions with a downward stepwise procedure were conducted to test the relationships between the physicochemical parameters and metal concentrations in both soils and isopods. Thus, positive correlations (0.78 < R² < 0.99) were obtained for Pb considering dataset from the groups 1, 2 and for Zn with data of groups 2 and 3. Finally, results showed that P. laevis could be used as a bio-indicator for monitoring and reducing the impact of pollution in terrestrial ecosystems.