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:	Mark E Hodson, Ron Corstanjeb, David T Jones, Jo Witton, Victoria J Burton, Tom Sloan, Paul Eggleton
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/8ac8dc09e40c4529b828c83f188a8fef
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:8ac8dc09e40c4529b828c83f188a8fef2021-12-02T20:14:52ZEarthworm distributions are not driven by measurable soil properties. Do they really indicate soil quality?1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0241945https://doaj.org/article/8ac8dc09e40c4529b828c83f188a8fef2021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0241945https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Abundance 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.Mark E HodsonRon CorstanjebDavid T JonesJo WittonVictoria J BurtonTom SloanPaul EggletonPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 8, p e0241945 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Mark E Hodson Ron Corstanjeb David T Jones Jo Witton Victoria J Burton Tom Sloan Paul Eggleton Earthworm distributions are not driven by measurable soil properties. Do they really indicate soil quality?
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.
format	article
author	Mark E Hodson Ron Corstanjeb David T Jones Jo Witton Victoria J Burton Tom Sloan Paul Eggleton
author_facet	Mark E Hodson Ron Corstanjeb David T Jones Jo Witton Victoria J Burton Tom Sloan Paul Eggleton
author_sort	Mark E Hodson
title	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_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_sort	earthworm distributions are not driven by measurable soil properties. do they really indicate soil quality?
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/8ac8dc09e40c4529b828c83f188a8fef
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Earthworm distributions are not driven by measurable soil properties. Do they really indicate soil quality?

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