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

authored by

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.

External Organisation(s)

The James Hutton Institute
Kiel University

Type

Article

Journal

Soil and Tillage Research

Volume

104

Pages

320-323

No. of pages

4

ISSN

0167-1987

Publication date

07.2009

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Agronomy and Crop Science, Soil Science, Earth-Surface Processes

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 15 - Life on Land

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2009.04.004 (Access: Unknown)