The first data regarding the effect of the exotic Eisenia ventripapillata (Oligochaeta, Lumbricidae) on the cation composition of soils in Western Siberia

Abstract

We have performed laboratory experiments to determine the impact of earthworms (exotic Eisenia ventripapillata and peregrine Aporrectodea caliginosa) on the water-soluble forms of ammonium, potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium in Calcic Chernozem, Greyic Phaeozem, and Haplic Chernozem, which are widespread in the south of Western Siberia. The differences between the impacts made by the two above-mentioned species have been estimated according to the changes they make in the initial cation concentrations in soil. For E. ventripapillata, the obtained evidence regarding the influence of this species on soil characteristics is first-ever data. We found that E. ventripapillata and A. caliginosa changed the content of all cations in the soils under this study, but the nature of these changes varied from one soil type to another. In contrast to A. caliginosa, E. ventripapillata reliably increased the content of potassium and calcium ions in Calcic Chernozem. In comparison with the A. caliginosa influence, the E. ventripapillata variants reliably differed in the content of ammonium, potassium, and sodium ions in Greyic Phaeozem. In Haplic Chernozem, the ammonium, magnesium, and sodium ions content in the E. ventripapillata variants was reliably lower than in the A. caliginosa variants. Thus, the observed difference between native and exotic species in the effects on the content of available cations can trigger changes in the mineral nutrition of plants growing in the examined soils. The article contains 2 Figures, 1 Table and 49 References