Soil and earthworms are threatened by anthropogenic contamination resulting from olive mill waste dumping on the soil due to their pollutant properties. While several studies have explored the effects of olive mill waste on soil properties and the accumulation of heavy metals in soil, there is currently a gap in the literature regarding the potential bioaccumulation of heavy metals from olive mill waste in earthworms. In this study, soil with earthworms from two ecological categories (endogeic: Aporrectodea trapezoides and epigeic: Eisenia fetida) was treated with increasing doses of olive mill wastewater (OMWW) and olive mill pomace (OMP), applied individually or combined, in an indoor experiment in plastic containers, under laboratory conditions. The results revealed the presence of significant concentrations of heavy metals in the two types of wastes ranging as follows: Fe˃ Zn˃ Cu˃ Cd˃ Cr for OMWW, and Fe˃ Zn˃ Cu˃ Cr for OMP (with Cd below the detection limit). The study demonstrated distinct effects of OMWW and OMP, both individually and in combination, on soil heavy metal content, ranging as follows: soil OMWW > soil Combination > soil OMP for Cd; soil Combination > soil OMWW > soil OMP for Cr and Fe; and soil Combination > soil OMP > soil OMWW for Cu and Zn. Additionally, our investigation showed that both earthworm species exhibited significant uptake of these metals into their tissues, particularly the endogeic species. Interestingly, the most significant difference between species was in the accumulation of Cu, with the epigeic species accumulating significantly lower amounts.

Department of Applied Ecology Faculty of Environmental Sciences Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Prague Suchdol 16500 Czech Republic

Department of Biology University of Osijek Cara Hadrijana 8A 31000 Osijek Croatia

Department of Physical Earth and Environmental Sciences University of Siena Via Mattioli 4 53100 Siena Italy

Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture for Arable Land Conservation in South China Key Laboratory of Guangdong Province for Land Use and Consolidation College of Natural Resources and Environment South China Agricultural University Guangzhou 510642 China

Laboratory of Biotechnology Water Environment and Health University of Abbes Laghrour Khenchela Algeria

Natural Resources and Management of Sensitive Environments Laboratory Larbi Ben M'hidi University 04000 Oum El Bouaghi Algeria

Vermitechnology and Ecotoxicology Laboratory Department of Zoology School of Life Sciences Periyar University Salem Tamil Nadu 636 011 India

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