The aim of our study was to determine the current distribution, habitats, ecology, and possible dispersal routes of three species of the Rudny Altai (East Kazakhstan): Eisenia tracta, E. nana, and E. ventripapillata. We found that these species dispersed far beyond their original distribution into the flatland part of western Siberia (Russia) up to the central forest steppe of the Omsk oblast. E. tracta, E. nana, and E. ventripapillata were found in both floodplains and interfluvials. Hydrochory was the most plausible way of northward dispersal, while on interfluvials, they were probably introduced by humans. The studied species showed no preference for a particular habitat or river bank. The habitats were diverse and significantly different from the original ones in Rudny Altai. The factors that allowed E. tracta, E. nana, and E. ventripapillata to colonize western Siberia were probably their wide tolerance range to soil pH, temperature, density, and humidity, along with the decrease of winter soil freezing in recent decades. This is the first information about the occurrence of these species of earthworms in Siberia.

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We have performed laboratory experiments to determine the impact of earthworms (exotic Eisenia ventripapillata and peregrine Aporrectodea caliginosa) on the water-soluble forms of ammonium, potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium in Calcic Chernozem, Greyic Phaeozem, and Haplic Chernozem, which are widespread in the south of Western Siberia. The differences between the impacts made by the two above-mentioned species have been estimated according to the changes they make in the initial cation concentrations in soil. For E. ventripapillata, the obtained evidence regarding the influence of this species on soil characteristics is first-ever data. We found that E. ventripapillata and A. caliginosa changed the content of all cations in the soils under this study, but the nature of these changes varied from one soil type to another. In contrast to A. caliginosa, E. ventripapillata reliably increased the content of potassium and calcium ions in Calcic Chernozem. In comparison with the A. caliginosa influence, the E. ventripapillata variants reliably differed in the content of ammonium, potassium, and sodium ions in Greyic Phaeozem. In Haplic Chernozem, the ammonium, magnesium, and sodium ions content in the E. ventripapillata variants was reliably lower than in the A. caliginosa variants. Thus, the observed difference between native and exotic species in the effects on the content of available cations can trigger changes in the mineral nutrition of plants growing in the examined soils. The article contains 2 Figures, 1 Table and 49 References

In this study we report the endemic Altai species, Eisenia tracta, for the first time. The ancestral region of this species are non-moral forests of Kazakhstan. The species lives in the key habitats of rare and protected species in the region: waterlogged tall grass forests located on slopes or in gullies, is rare and needs protection.

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