Fig 1. Cd accumulation in tissue of L. terrestris in control and Cadmium (Cd)-exposed individuals over 19 weeks including three exposure periods.

1: Earthworms spent 12 weeks in clean soil (grey line) or soil spiked with 10 mg/kg CdCl₂ (black line). 2: All earthworms were kept in clean soil for five weeks (recovery). 3: Both the control- and Cd-derived group were split up into two groups, with one being transferred to clean soil (grey lines) and one being transferred to soil spiked with 60 mg/kg CdCl₂ (thick black lines) for two weeks. The expressions "Control- and Cd-derived group" refer to the respective treatment during exposure period 1. Stars indicate significant differences to the controls (p≤0.05).