A classification scheme for earthworm populations (<i>Lumbricidae</i>) in cultivated agricultural soils in Brandenburg, Germany

Krück, Stefanie; Joschko, Monika; Schultz-Sternberg, Rüdiger; Kroschewski, Bärbel; Tessmann, Joachim

doi:10.1002/jpln.200521903

Cited by 20 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…However, earthworm abundance and biomass before and also after application on the control plots were high compared to other German grassland sites, for example, in northern Germany (Beylich and Graefe 2007), Bavaria (Bauchhenss 2005) or Brandenburg (Krück et al 2006) where numbers of 174-330 individuals per square metre with a biomass of 85-96 g/m 2 were found.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Boric acid as alternative reference substance for earthworm field tests

Stegger¹,

Ebke²,

Römbke

2010

J Soils Sediments

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Purpose Boric acid was applied in an earthworm field test according to ISO 11268-3 as a possible alternative for the currently used reference substances that may no longer be available in the near future. Material and methods The test site was a pasture with a silt-and clay-dominated soil, a pH of 5.7 and an organic content of 2.8%. In addition to a water-only control, two separate treatments of boric acid were applied: single applications at rates of 187 and 750 kg/ha. In order to investigate the acute impact of this compound, biological sampling was undertaken 4 weeks after application by hand sorting combined with formaldehyde extraction. Results and discussion The earthworm community consisted of seven species commonly found at German grassland sites. In the control plots, mean abundance was very high: 984 individuals per square metre before application and 390 individuals per square metre 4 weeks following application of boric acid. In the treated plots, abundance and biomass were reduced by more than 50% compared to the control plots, respectively. In general, juvenile earthworms as well as the epigeic species were affected most strongly.Conclusions On the basis of this study, boric acid has the potential to be an alternative reference substance in assessing the acute impact on earthworm species in field tests.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Boric acid as alternative reference substance for earthworm field tests

Stegger¹,

Ebke²,

Römbke

2010

J Soils Sediments

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“…Aporrectodea caliginosa is known to have the broadest ecological niche of the observed species, whereas A . rosea prefers soils with higher organic matter content in this region [ 58 ]. This elucidates the high differences in model quality between those two species.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Proximal Soil Sensing – A Contribution for Species Habitat Distribution Modelling of Earthworms in Agricultural Soils?

et al. 2016

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BackgroundEarthworms are important for maintaining soil ecosystem functioning and serve as indicators of soil fertility. However, detection of earthworms is time-consuming, which hinders the assessment of earthworm abundances with high sampling density over entire fields. Recent developments of mobile terrestrial sensor platforms for proximal soil sensing (PSS) provided new tools for collecting dense spatial information of soils using various sensing principles. Yet, the potential of PSS for assessing earthworm habitats is largely unexplored. This study investigates whether PSS data contribute to the spatial prediction of earthworm abundances in species distribution models of agricultural soils.Methodology/Principal FindingsProximal soil sensing data, e.g., soil electrical conductivity (EC), pH, and near infrared absorbance (NIR), were collected in real-time in a field with two management strategies (reduced tillage / conventional tillage) and sandy to loam soils. PSS was related to observations from a long-term (11 years) earthworm observation study conducted at 42 plots. Earthworms were sampled from 0.5 x 0.5 x 0.2 m³ soil blocks and identified to species level. Sensor data were highly correlated with earthworm abundances observed in reduced tillage but less correlated with earthworm abundances observed in conventional tillage. This may indicate that management influences the sensor-earthworm relationship. Generalized additive models and state-space models showed that modelling based on data fusion from EC, pH, and NIR sensors produced better results than modelling without sensor data or data from just a single sensor. Regarding the individual earthworm species, particular sensor combinations were more appropriate than others due to the different habitat requirements of the earthworms. Earthworm species with soil-specific habitat preferences were spatially predicted with higher accuracy by PSS than more ubiquitous species.Conclusions/SignificanceOur findings suggest that PSS contributes to the spatial modelling of earthworm abundances at field scale and that it will support species distribution modelling in the attempt to understand the soil-earthworm relationships in agroecosystems.

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“…The generally low level of allelic richness, as well as the higher variability in the Schorfheide-Chorin may be explained by the lower local population sizes and densities relative to the Schwäbische Alb. We attribute this to the higher soil acidity of the Schorfheide-Chorin, which is known to lead to smaller earthworm populations [ 100 ], which serve as a main food source [ 67 , 97 ] for the beetle. This relationship between soil pH, prey, and population sizes of Abax parallelepipedus has been reported previously by Jukes et al [ 69 ] and Magura et al [ 75 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Living in Heterogeneous Woodlands – Are Habitat Continuity or Quality Drivers of Genetic Variability in a Flightless Ground Beetle?

et al. 2015

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Although genetic diversity is one of the key components of biodiversity, its drivers are still not fully understood. While it is known that genetic diversity is affected both by environmental parameters as well as habitat history, these factors are not often tested together. Therefore, we analyzed 14 microsatellite loci in Abax parallelepipedus, a flightless, forest dwelling ground beetle, from 88 plots in two study regions in Germany. We modeled the effects of historical and environmental variables on allelic richness, and found for one of the regions, the Schorfheide-Chorin, a significant effect of the depth of the litter layer, which is a main component of habitat quality, and of the sampling effort, which serves as an inverse proxy for local population size. For the other region, the Schwäbische Alb, none of the potential drivers showed a significant effect on allelic richness. We conclude that the genetic diversity in our study species is being driven by current local population sizes via environmental variables and not by historical processes in the studied regions. This is also supported by lack of genetic differentiation between local populations sampled from ancient and from recent woodlands. We suggest that the potential effects of former fragmentation and recolonization processes have been mitigated by the large and stable local populations of Abax parallelepipedus in combination with the proximity of the ancient and recent woodlands in the studied landscapes.

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A classification scheme for earthworm populations (Lumbricidae) in cultivated agricultural soils in Brandenburg, Germany

Cited by 20 publications

References 4 publications

Boric acid as alternative reference substance for earthworm field tests

Boric acid as alternative reference substance for earthworm field tests

Proximal Soil Sensing – A Contribution for Species Habitat Distribution Modelling of Earthworms in Agricultural Soils?

Living in Heterogeneous Woodlands – Are Habitat Continuity or Quality Drivers of Genetic Variability in a Flightless Ground Beetle?

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