Table 1.

Recent reports on the effects of chemical agents in earthworms.

Species	Chemical agents	Effects	References
Lumbricus rubellus	Cd	Bioaccumulation	Stürzenbaum et al. (2004) [16]
Lumbricus rubellus	Cd and Cu	A slight decrease in weight.	Burgos et al. (2005) [17]
Eisenia fetida	Cd and Ni	Cd, but not Ni, accumulated and generated 8-oxoguanine in earthworm.	Nakashima et al. (2008) [9]
Eisenia fetida	Cu and ciprofloxacin (CIP)	Cu may be partly assimilated as Cu-CIP complexes I by earthworms, changing the bioavailability, subcellular distribution, and toxicity of Cu to earthworms.	Huang et al. (2009) [18]
Lumbricus rubellus	Pb and Zn	Accumulated in the posterior alimentary canal.	Andre et al. (2009) [19]
Drawida sp., Allolobophora sp., Limnodrilus sp.	Mercury	Mercury was mostly present in inorganic forms in earthworms. The bioaccumulation factors of methyl mercury from soil in earthworms were much higher than those of total mercury.	Zhang et al. (2009) [2]
Lumbricus terrestris	TiO2	An enhanced apoptotic frequency, which was higher in the cuticle, intestinal epithelium and chloragogenous tissue than in the longitudinal and circular musculature.	Lapied et al. (2011) [20]
Eisenia fetida	azodrin	Concentration-dependent changes in the morphology and the AChE activity.	Rao and Kavitha (2004) [21]
No description	polybrominated diphenyl ethers	Bioaccumulation	Sellström et al. (2005) [22]
Eisenia fetida	metalaxyl	Metalaxyl was rapidly assimilated by earthworms, and the bioaccumulation of metalaxyl was enantioselective, with preferential accumulation of the S-enantiomer.	Xu et al. (2011) [23]