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Earthworm distributions are not driven by measurable soil properties. Do they really indicate soil quality?

Abundance and distribution of earthworms in agricultural fields is frequently proposed as a measure of soil quality assuming that observed patterns of abundance are in response to improved or degraded environmental conditions. However, it is not clear that earthworm abundances can be directly relate...

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Autores principales: Hodson, Mark E., Corstanjeb, Ron, Jones, David T., Witton, Jo, Burton, Victoria J., Sloan, Tom, Eggleton, Paul
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8404981/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34460828
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0241945
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author Hodson, Mark E.
Corstanjeb, Ron
Jones, David T.
Witton, Jo
Burton, Victoria J.
Sloan, Tom
Eggleton, Paul
author_facet Hodson, Mark E.
Corstanjeb, Ron
Jones, David T.
Witton, Jo
Burton, Victoria J.
Sloan, Tom
Eggleton, Paul
author_sort Hodson, Mark E.
collection PubMed
description Abundance and distribution of earthworms in agricultural fields is frequently proposed as a measure of soil quality assuming that observed patterns of abundance are in response to improved or degraded environmental conditions. However, it is not clear that earthworm abundances can be directly related to their edaphic environment, as noted in Darwin’s final publication, perhaps limiting or restricting their value as indicators of ecological quality in any given field. We present results from a spatially explicit intensive survey of pastures within United Kingdom farms, looking for the main drivers of earthworm density at a range of scales. When describing spatial variability of both total and ecotype-specific earthworm abundance within any given field, the best predictor was earthworm abundance itself within 20–30 m of the sampling point; there were no consistent environmental correlates with earthworm numbers, suggesting that biological factors (e.g. colonisation rate, competition, predation, parasitism) drive or at least significantly modify earthworm distributions at this spatial level. However, at the national scale, earthworm abundance is well predicted by soil nitrate levels, density, temperature and moisture content, albeit not in a simple linear fashion. This suggests that although land can be managed at the farm scale to promote earthworm abundance and the resulting soil processes that deliver ecosystem services, within a field, earthworm distributions will remain patchy. The use of earthworms as soil quality indicators must therefore be carried out with care, ensuring that sufficient samples are taken within field to take account of variability in earthworm populations that is unrelated to soil chemical and physical properties.
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spelling pubmed-84049812021-08-31 Earthworm distributions are not driven by measurable soil properties. Do they really indicate soil quality? Hodson, Mark E. Corstanjeb, Ron Jones, David T. Witton, Jo Burton, Victoria J. Sloan, Tom Eggleton, Paul PLoS One Research Article Abundance and distribution of earthworms in agricultural fields is frequently proposed as a measure of soil quality assuming that observed patterns of abundance are in response to improved or degraded environmental conditions. However, it is not clear that earthworm abundances can be directly related to their edaphic environment, as noted in Darwin’s final publication, perhaps limiting or restricting their value as indicators of ecological quality in any given field. We present results from a spatially explicit intensive survey of pastures within United Kingdom farms, looking for the main drivers of earthworm density at a range of scales. When describing spatial variability of both total and ecotype-specific earthworm abundance within any given field, the best predictor was earthworm abundance itself within 20–30 m of the sampling point; there were no consistent environmental correlates with earthworm numbers, suggesting that biological factors (e.g. colonisation rate, competition, predation, parasitism) drive or at least significantly modify earthworm distributions at this spatial level. However, at the national scale, earthworm abundance is well predicted by soil nitrate levels, density, temperature and moisture content, albeit not in a simple linear fashion. This suggests that although land can be managed at the farm scale to promote earthworm abundance and the resulting soil processes that deliver ecosystem services, within a field, earthworm distributions will remain patchy. The use of earthworms as soil quality indicators must therefore be carried out with care, ensuring that sufficient samples are taken within field to take account of variability in earthworm populations that is unrelated to soil chemical and physical properties. Public Library of Science 2021-08-30 /pmc/articles/PMC8404981/ /pubmed/34460828 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0241945 Text en © 2021 Hodson et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Hodson, Mark E.
Corstanjeb, Ron
Jones, David T.
Witton, Jo
Burton, Victoria J.
Sloan, Tom
Eggleton, Paul
Earthworm distributions are not driven by measurable soil properties. Do they really indicate soil quality?
title Earthworm distributions are not driven by measurable soil properties. Do they really indicate soil quality?
title_full Earthworm distributions are not driven by measurable soil properties. Do they really indicate soil quality?
title_fullStr Earthworm distributions are not driven by measurable soil properties. Do they really indicate soil quality?
title_full_unstemmed Earthworm distributions are not driven by measurable soil properties. Do they really indicate soil quality?
title_short Earthworm distributions are not driven by measurable soil properties. Do they really indicate soil quality?
title_sort earthworm distributions are not driven by measurable soil properties. do they really indicate soil quality?
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8404981/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34460828
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0241945
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