Construction of an Electrical Device for Sampling Earthworm Populations in the Field

Weyers, S. L.; Schomberg, Harry H.; Hendrix, Paul F.; Spokas, Kurt A.; Endale, Dinku M.

doi:10.13031/2013.24492

Cited by 34 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…During the establishment of the HoCC experiment in May 2008 and when the soil was ploughed (November 4th 2009), all visible earthworms were removed from plots assigned to the earthworm reduction treatment by hand sorting down to a soil depth of 30 cm. In addition, earthworm densities were reduced in spring 2009 (April 1st and 2nd) and 2010 (March 24th) by using the octet method (Thielemann, 1986;Eisenhauer et al, 2009), by which earthworms are extracted without disturbing or contaminating the soil (Weyers et al, 2008). Four octet devices (DEKA 4000, Deka Gerätebau, Marsberg, Germany) were used for 35 min on each subplot.…”

Section: Experimental Design and Treatmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Earthworms modulate the effects of climate warming on the taxon richness of soil meso- and macrofauna in an agricultural system

Siebert

Eisenhauer

Poll

et al. 2019

Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

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Section: Experimental Design and Treatmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Earthworms modulate the effects of climate warming on the taxon richness of soil meso- and macrofauna in an agricultural system

Siebert

Eisenhauer

Poll

et al. 2019

Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

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“…Measurements of earthworm abundance were corrected to account for environmental conditions that can influence extraction efficiency (Schmidt, 2001;Szlavecz et al, 2013;Weyers et al, 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Weak interactions between strong interactors in an old‐field ecosystem: Control of nitrogen cycling by coupled herbivores and detritivores

Buchkowski

Schmitz

2021

Functional Ecology

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1. Interactions between herbivores and detritivores are common in greenhouse and laboratory experiments. Such interactions are thought to cause feedbacks in real ecosystems where the combined actions of these animals create either high or low nutrient cycling rates. There is limited evidence from factorial field experiments to support these expectations.2. We present the results of a 3-year experiment wherein we factorially manipulated grasshopper herbivores and earthworm detritivores in an old-field ecosystem and tested for significant interaction effects on plants, nitrogen mineralization and micro-organisms. Then, we used a dynamical system model built and parameterized for the study ecosystem to test the theoretical strength of these interactions.We predicted that grasshoppers and earthworms would have a positive interaction effect on plant growth and nitrogen cycling by driving plant community change.3. We found neither evidence for interaction effects on any of the variables we measured nor a consistent change in the composition of the plant community even though the individual effects of grasshoppers and earthworms were as expected. Our dynamical system model made the same prediction across a broad section of parameter space (e.g. feeding rates, death rates, etc) and after longer term simulations. 4. Our results suggest that interactions between herbivores and detritivores are only likely in situ when animals have exceptionally high individual effects on ecosystems and where the exogenous forces driving plant community change and soil biogeochemical fluxes are weak. K E Y W O R D Sabove-ground-below-ground interactions, brown food chain, earthworm, ecosystem model, grasshoppers, green food chain, nitrogen mineralization, old field

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“…Specifically, four soil probes were placed into the soil in a square plot with a resulting sampling area of 1 m 2 . The probes were part of an electroshocking protocol that was used to stimulate earthworms emerging within the sampling area (Weyers et al, 2008). Electroshocking has been shown to have minimal effects on soil biota (Staddon et al, 2003).…”

Section: Earthworm Decomposition Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal Changes in the Function of Bacterial Assemblages Associated With Decomposing Earthworms

Sun

2021

Front. Microbiol.

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Soil invertebrate corpse decomposition is an ecologically significant, yet poorly understood, process affecting nutrient biogeochemical cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. Here, we attempted to answer how the substrate chemistry and microbial community change during soil invertebrate (earthworm) decomposition and what roles microbes play in this process. Specifically, the dead earthworms (Amynthas corticis) were buried in two soils where the earthworms inhabited, or not, until more than 50% of the earthworm mass was lost. For both soils, earthworms decomposed faster during the early stage (between 0 and 3 days), as reflected by the higher rate of decomposition and increased accumulation of dissolved organic matter (DOM). This decomposition pattern was paralleled by bacterial community dynamics, where bacterial richness and diversity were significantly higher during early decomposition (p < 0.05) with the relative abundances of many genera decreasing as decomposition progressed. The succession of the bacterial community composition was significantly correlated with time-course changes in DOM composition (p < 0.05). Particularly, more functional groups (e.g., microbes associated with carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur cycling) were identified to be linked with the change of a specific DOM type during the early decomposition phase. By exploring the ecologically important process of soil invertebrate decomposition and its associated bacterial communities, this study provides evidence, e.g., a statistically significant positive correlation between bacterial community and DOM compositions, which supports the widely recognized yet less-tested microbial community structure–function relationship hypothesis in invertebrate decomposition.

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Construction of an Electrical Device for Sampling Earthworm Populations in the Field

Abstract: ABSTRACT. Methods for the estimation of earthworm population densities range from laborious handsorting

Cited by 34 publications

References 17 publications

Earthworms modulate the effects of climate warming on the taxon richness of soil meso- and macrofauna in an agricultural system

Earthworms modulate the effects of climate warming on the taxon richness of soil meso- and macrofauna in an agricultural system

Weak interactions between strong interactors in an old‐field ecosystem: Control of nitrogen cycling by coupled herbivores and detritivores

Temporal Changes in the Function of Bacterial Assemblages Associated With Decomposing Earthworms

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