Soil compaction by uniaxial loading and the survival of the earthworm Aporrectodea caliginosa

verfasst von

B. M. McKenzie, S. Kühner, K. MacKenzie, S. Peth, R. Horn

Abstract

Earthworms are the major component of the soil fauna in temperate agro-ecosystems. Land use and soil management are widely reported to influence earthworm populations. We report simple laboratory experiments in which earthworm survival was tested against uniaxial loads for a range of soil conditions. Across all the experimental conditions 86% of earthworms survived. While greater loads (up to 800 kPa) over longer exposure times (up to 60 s) decreased survival; even under the most severe test conditions 33% of earthworms survived. Our results suggest that decreased earthworm populations in compacted soil are not due to uniaxial loading alone, but may be the result of shearing the soil during loading or from changes to the soil properties.

Externe Organisation(en)

The James Hutton Institute
Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (CAU)

Typ

Artikel

Journal

Soil and Tillage Research

Band

104

Seiten

320-323

Anzahl der Seiten

4

ISSN

0167-1987

Publikationsdatum

07.2009

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Agronomie und Nutzpflanzenwissenschaften, Bodenkunde, Erdoberflächenprozesse

Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung

SDG 15 – Lebensraum Land

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2009.04.004 (Zugang: Unbekannt)