Cropping history and peat amendment-induced changes in strawberry field earthworm abundance and microbial biomass

Kukkonen, Sanna; Palojärvi, Ansa; Räkköläinen, Mauri; Vestberg, Mauritz

doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2006.01.019

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 25 publications

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“…The total recorded number of earthworm species in Finland is 16 and their geographical distribution in natural biotopes is relatively well known (Terhivuo 1988). Information on the effects of local field management on earthworm communities is also available (e.g., Haukka 1988, Nuutinen 1992, Nuutinen et al 1998, Kukkonen et al 2006), but the regional patterns of species distribution and density as well as the influence of inherent soil properties have so far remained unexplored. Clay content is known to be an important soil character for earthworms (Guild 1948, Baker et al 1992, Kladivko et al 1997, Curry 2004), so we hypothesize that besides the climatic effects, the variation in soil texture will be a major determinant of the structure of earthworm communities across Finnish arable fields.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Local land use effects and regional environmental limits on earthworm communities in Finnish arable landscapes

Nieminen

Ketoja

Mikola

et al. 2011

Ecological Applications

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In many arable soils, earthworms form the key component of the soil animal community and greatly contribute to soil quality. Our goal was to identify variables that can explain the variation of earthworm communities across Finnish arable fields by focusing on both regional aspects, such as climate and inherent soil properties, and local aspects, such as field management practices and field margins. We sampled the earthworms during the autumn of 2004 and 2005 at 53 sites of cultivated fields and margins, distributed to 11 localities ranging from the southern parts of Finland to the Arctic Circle. Simultaneously, information was collected on topsoil properties, cultivation history, and climatic factors. We found that soil type was by far the best regional variable to explain the variation in total earthworm density, the density being highest in medium coarse soils, i.e., silts and very fine sands. However, soil type had a significant interaction with soil C:N ratio. After accounting for the effect of soil type, no clear geographical trends remained in the regional variation, except that coastal areas with thin snow cover and deep frost had lower earthworm density than inland areas with deep snow cover and shallow frost. Of the local variables, tillage frequency, grazing, and field margins were the most influential. Frequent tillage led to earthworm communities heavily dominated by endogeic species, while grazed pastures had more than three times the earthworm biomass in comparison to non‐grazed fields. Field margins harbored over twice the density and almost double the number of species in comparison to the adjacent cultivated fields, and eight of the nine species had wider regional distribution in the margins than in the fields. Inside the fields, species richness tended to decrease gradually with increasing distance to the margin. Our results suggest that, while soil texture and climatic factors set the general limits to earthworm communities in Finnish arable soils, field management practices can override these limits at the local scale. Cultivation in general simplifies the earthworm community, and this is particularly clear in the fields that are frequently tilled, whereas pastures and field margins seem to effectively preserve the biomass and diversity of earthworms.

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