A role for liming as a conservation intervention? Earthworm abundance is associated with higher soil pH and foraging activity of a threatened shorebird in upland grasslands

Fodder crop management benefits Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) outside agri-environment schemes

“…Whilst this study cannot exclude this possibility, it is notable that the fodder crop management system in place on this study farm generated big differences in Lapwing density between individual fields on the same farm, which suggests that field-specific management is also a cause. The likely mechanism is that liming, an integral component of fodder crop management, has a prolonged benefit for breeding Lapwings because it increases soil pH relative to non-limed fields for several years, thus increasing suitability of these fields for earthworms and thus for foraging Lapwings (McCallum et al, 2016).…”

“…We found only a marginally significant effect of the Greenhouse gas emissions resulting from quarrying and transport of lime, coupled with carbon dioxide release from soil following lime application (Biasi et al, 2008), could mean that liming as a conservation measure is viewed as controversial. This coupled with potential changes in sward composition due to liming and negative impacts of ploughing on botanically rich swards (Jefferson 2005), mean that fodder crop management should only be implemented as a conservation measure on species-poor, sown grassland fields which have already undergone agricultural improvement and that lime should only be used in response to soil pH below that recommended for agricultural grass production (McCallum et al, 2016).…”

“…Here, its effects in raising soil pH to levels at which densities of earthworms, a key prey resource for grasslandbreeding shorebirds, are higher, could have particular benefits for breeding shorebirds, as suggested by an association between Lapwing distribution in Scotland and higher altitude areas with relatively high soil pH (McCallum et al, 2015). Improvements in soil conditions for earthworms brought about by liming persist for several years after the field has been returned to grass and therefore have lasting benefits in terms of grass growth for the farmer and for species dependent on earthworms as a prey resource (McCallum et al, 2016). This is likely to be more appealing to farmers (Alistair Robb, Townhead Farm pers comm.).…”

Modeling of Soil Functions for Assessing Soil Quality: Soil Biodiversity and Habitat Provisioning

“…At each stage of branching of the model, integration rules apply, for example, a "high" earthworm abundance and "low" earthworm richness lead to "moderate" earthworm diversity (Rutgers et al, 2016). Another example is that in acidic soils liming leads to a higher soil biodiversity, in particular for earthworms (McCallum et al, 2016). In this process of integrating attributes, some attributes were considered as more important than others, and thereby having a larger effect in the decision rules.…”

Use of agricultural land by breeding waders in low‐intensity farming landscapes

“…The higher densities of birds in the more intensively managed agricultural land in the west might therefore also reflect effects of agricultural activities, such as the liming and fertilization of the soil, improving the productivity of these sites relative to the surrounding land. Liming has been shown to affect distribution of Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus chicks through the impact on earthworms (McCallum et al, 2015(McCallum et al, , 2016, as most earthworm species in temperate agricultural soils prefer a pH of around 7 and liming has often been shown to increase earthworm numbers (Haynes & Naidu, 1998). Previous studies also show that the use of synthetic and organic fertilizer in Iceland can positively affect earthworm density, which are an important prey for waders, though the benefits vary between earthworm species (Sigurðard ottir & Þor-valdsson, 1994).…”