Trace metal accumulation by the shrew Sorex araneus. I. Total body burden, growth, and mortality.

A laboratory feeding trial is described in which a known trace metal accumulator, the shrew Sorex araneus, was presented with an artificial diet containing high levels of copper and cadmium. Methodological difficulties relating to feeding trials on first generation offspring of insectivorous small mammals caught in the wild are described. There was no relationship between copper or cadmium intake and mortality during the trials. Sex differences in growth were apparently not influenced by metal intake. At the end of the trials there was a significant negative correlation between body weight and total cadmium burden. Whole body concentrations and burdens of cadmium increased with estimated intake. There was a significant negative correlation between percentage of cadmium retained as body burden and estimated cadmium intake. There was no discernible relationship between copper burden and intake.