Data from: Earthworms and cadmium – heavy metal resistant gut bacteria as indicators for heavy metal pollution in soils?

Preservation of the soil resources stability is of high importance for
ecosystems, particularly in the current era of environmental change, which
presents a severe pollution burden (e.g. by heavy metals) to soil fauna.
Gut microbiomes are becoming recognized as important players in organism
health, with comprehension of their perturbations in the polluted
environment offering new insights into the nature and extent of heavy
metal effects on the health of soil biota. Our aim was to investigate the
effect of environmentally relevant heavy metal concentrations of cadmium
(Cd) on the earthworm (Lumbricus terrestris) gut microbiota. Our results
revealed that Cd exposure led to perturbations of earthworm gut microbiota
with an increase in bacteria previously described as heavy metal resistant
or able to bind heavy metals, revealing the potential of the earthworm-gut
microbiota system in overcoming human-caused heavy metal pollution.
Furthermore, an ‘indicator species analysis’ linked the bacterial genera
Paenibacillus, Flavobacterium and Pseudomonas, with Cd treatment,
suggesting these bacterial taxa as biomarkers of exposure in earthworms
inhabiting Cd-stressed soils. The results of this study help to understand
the impact of anthropogenic disturbance on soil fauna health and will have
implications for environmental monitoring and protection of soil
resources.