Soil Neighbors I: Traces of Other Organisms in Paleosols. Crustaceans and Earthworms

Amazon freshwater crab Dilocarcinus pagei (Decapoda: Trichodactylidae): a view about burrow construction behavior

“…The beginning of the excavation process of D. pagei is different from that described for other crabs such as Cancer magister and C. productus; these species use the pereiopods simultaneously and claws to remove sediment (McGaw, 2005;Corcoran & Merz, 2014). D. pagei uses at the beginning of the excavation only the pereiopods (Genise, 2017); this behavior serves to explore and analyze the sediment hardness, because depending on the season, floodplain soils in the Amazon can retain different levels of water (Ferreira et al, 1999), and this may facilitate or hinder the excavation process.…”

“…Another peculiarity attributed to the females of D. pagei is that they have the habit of closing the opening of the burrows with a sediment plug. Genise (2017) reported the presence of a closed dump of D. pagei, but the author did not identify the individual who closed the gallery.…”

“…The crab Dilocarcinus pagei is an important member of the trophic chain, acting as an omnivore, predator and opportunist (Williner & Collins, 2002). This crab forms part of the bird diet (Magalhães, 1990;Olmos et al, 2006) and inhabits rivers, lakes, ravines, macrophytes (Magalhães, 2003;Taddei & Herrera, 2010) and burrows (Pinheiro & Taddei, 2005;Melchor et al, 2010;Genise, 2017). Despite its ecological importance, information on the behavior of D. pagei is still limited.…”

Spatial Distribution of the Anecic Species of Earthworms Dendrobaena nassonovi nassonovi (Oligochaeta: Lumbricidae) in the Forest Belt of the Northwestern Caucasus

“…Anecic earthworms differ from other species groups because of their much larger size (the biomass of an anecic species is much higher than that of an epigeic one), longer life expectancy of up to 9 years compared with the average of 1-2 years in other groups [10], and the fact that they build permanent slightly branched vertical passages to a depth of up Forests 2023, 14, 2367 2 of 11 to 1 m, which can be clearly shown today by using X-ray tomography methods [7]. Anecic earthworm passages persist significantly longer than the lifespan of an earthworm [11], which, under certain conditions, allows researchers to conduct paleoreconstructions of these animals' habitats [12]. Anecic earthworms go deep into the ground during periods of adverse conditions (droughts, negative temperatures) and enter diapause.…”