Two decades of monitoring earthworms in translocated grasslands at Manchester Airport

Soil and Vegetation Characteristics of Grassland Have a Greater Influence on the Abundance and Diversity of Earthworms than the Mowing Intensity in a Managed Nature Reserve

“…According to a long-term field experiment, 2-4 endogeic, 0-2 anecic and 1-2 epigeic species can be expected in mountain forest and grassland ecosystems [59]. Other studies report a total number of 11 species in semi-natural grasslands in Sweden [60], 10 species in grasslands on marine clay soils in the Netherlands [38], 9 species in a calcareous grassland in north-western Switzerland [29], 8 species across Brittany, France [61], 7 species in mountainous grasslands in Austria [18], 5 species across grasslands with different management intensities in Germany [62], and 14 species in a translocated grassland in the UK two decades after restoration [63]. The Shannon diversity of earthworms was significantly higher in the dry and fresh vegetation types than in the moist vegetation type.…”

“…We interpret the absence of such relationships with the fact that most differences in soil parameters were balanced out by the time of sampling and after a rather dry spring period. Others report large fluctuations in earthworm density and diversity in semi-natural grassland areas with increasing soil moisture and fertility in grasslands [60,63].…”

Soil Moisture and Fertility Drive Earthworm Diversity in North Temperate Semi-Natural Grasslands

“…We found earthworm densities to increase with higher soil moisture, indicated by the Ellenberg indicator values of the plant community, and lower soil C:N ratio. It is well-established that soil moisture and factors affecting it, such as season (Singh et al, 2021), precipitation (Butt et al, 2022;da Silva et al, 2020) and soil texture (Rutgers et al, 2009;van de Logt et al, 2023), are important for earthworms. Although some species can escape drought or enter quiescence during dry periods, earthworm activity and reproduction relies on soil moisture, as earthworms breathe through their skin and are susceptible to desiccation (Edwards and Arancon, 2022).…”