Impact of different earthworm ecotypes on water stable aggregates and soil water holding capacity

Abstract

We carried out mesocosm experiments using either the anecic earthworm Lumbricus terrestris or the endogeic earthworm Allolobophora chlorotica and loam, silt loam and sandy loam soils to investigate the differing impact of these earthworm of different ecotypes on aggregate formation (percentage water stable aggregates, %WSA) and soil water holding capacity (WHC), two soil properties that underpin many of the ecosystem services provided by soils. Earthworms significantly increased %WSA (by 16-56% and 19-63% relative to earthworm-free controls for L. terrestris and A. chlorotica, respectively). For L. terrestris, this increase was significantly greater in the upper 6.5 cm of the soil where their casts were more obviously present. Allobophora chlorotica treatments significantly increased WHC by 7-16%. L. terrestris only caused a significant increase in WHC (of 11%) in the upper 6.5 cm of the sandy loam soil. Linear regression indicated a consistent relationship between increases in %WSA and WHC for both earthworm species. However, for a given %WSA, WHC was higher for A. chlorotica than L. terrestris likely due to the known differences in their burrow structure. Overall, earthworms increased soil %WSA and WHC but the significant species/ecotype differences need to be considered in discussions of the beneficial impacts of earthworms to soil properties.

Estimation of Land Degradation Loss by Water Erosion: Case of the Site of Biological and Ecological Interest of Ain Asmama (Western High Atlas, Morocco)

“…Soil erodibility factor depends on several parameters such as cohesion strength between soil particles, soil and plant roots interaction, plants exudates, biological organisms (e.g., earthworms) and soil structure and its relation to soil moisture content [19]. Following the classification of Manrique [18] our results show that 95 % of the soils are highly to very highly erodible (Figure 10), in accordance.…”

Quality of soil from the nickel mining area of Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia, engineered using earthworms (Pheretima sp.)

“…The significant decrease in the mass contribution of the aggregate size in this class which was accompanied by an increase in the contribution in the class 4.75 -8.00 mm with the addition of the abundance of Pheretima sp. indicates they actively modified the soil aggregation through ingestion and egestion from the soil (Hallam and Hodson, 2020). The increase in the contribution of macroaggregates in line with the increase in the abundance of Pheretima sp was probably related to the increase in the number of soil particles consumed by the worms.…”

Earthworm and Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Improve Plant Hormones and Antioxidant Enzymes to Alleviate Simulated Acid Rain Stress

“…The feeding and burrowing habits of earthworms promote litter decomposition, nitrogen mineralization and water in ltration in the soil, which have profound effects on soil properties (Hallam and Hodson, 2020b). In this experiment, the EW treatment signi cantly (p < 0.05) reduced the soil organic matter and total N contents and signi cantly (p < 0.05) increased the N content of maize roots (Table 3), indicating that earthworms can promote the transfer of nitrogen from soil to the maize roots.…”