When total TE contents in soil were considered as the explanatory
variables (Table 2) for accumulation in plants, significant correlations
were only evidenced for As, Cr, Ni and Pb. However, the coefficients of
correlation were relatively low. The highest value was observed for Cr
(r 2 adj = 0.49) while for As, Ni and Pb the r 2 adj values were comprised
between 0.15 and 0.35. For Cd, Cu and Zn no significant correlations
between total TE in soil and plant contents were found. In contrast for
snails, internal TE concentrations were significantly correlated with
total contents in soil for all elements, excepted for Cu (Table 2). The
highest coefficient of correlation was observed for As (r 2 adj = 0.63),
the r 2 values for the other elements ranging between 0.14 and 0.45.