Supplementary data for Mwelwa et al. (2023), Biotransfer of heavy metals along the soil-plant-edible insect-human food chain in Africa
Description
This file includes supplementary data for the concentration of eight heavy metals in soil, host plants, and associated edible insects. Also, a questionnaire that was used to estimate the daily insect consumption per day is here attached.
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Steps to reproduce
To collect this data, soil, edible insect, and host plant samples were collected in the Copperbelt province, Zambia. The samples were collected in three plots which were established along a 600m transect at each sampling site. The first sampling site was established at 1.5km from the mine. The second, third, fourth, and fifth sites were established at 16.5km, 31.5km, 46.5km, and 61.5km respectively. All the samples were then packed in plastic vials, labeled appropriately, and transported to Copperbelt University for further processing and analysis. Following the manufacturer's guidelines, all the samples were analyzed for arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), and zinc (Zn) concentrations using the atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS).