The influence of gut microorganisms on zinc uptake in Helix aspersa.

An artificial diet was prepared that enabled the snail Helix aspersa to be fed food containing varying amounts of metals, antibiotics or bacteria. By this means it is possible to show that the body burden of zinc was significantly correlated with the dietary intake. The snail was, however, able to detect high concentrations of the metal and reduced its intake of such contaminated food. The bacterial population of the alimentary tract modified the amount of zinc absorbed from the diet. It appears, therefore, that biological monitoring programmes, based upon bioaccumulation measurements, should take these influences into account.