Earthworm species and burrows related to agricultural management of clover-grass rotations

Summary

Clover grass is an important element in crop rotations due to its beneficial agronomic properties including nitrogen build-up, biodiversity stimulation and maintenance of soil macropores and it harvests very high levels of earthworm biomass. We studied the relationship between crucial ele-ments of a clover grass crop rotation and earthworm diversity and macropore depth distribution. The dominance of anecics increased from the annual crops to the perenial clover-grass. Aporrec-todea tuberculata decreased significantly Cattle grazing seems to favour coarse macropores made by anecics, Aporrectodea longa and Lumbricus terrestris. Our study stresses the importance of considering subsoil macropores to complete the picture of earthworm influence on soil hydrology. The anecics are responsible for coarse macropores with diameter greater than 5 mm, while the smaller endogeics are less important and even negatively correlated with the abundant anecics and sensitive to the presence of grazing cattle. When successfully predicting the contribution to soil ecosystem services by earthworms the detailed species specific functional properties are crucial.

Available Versions of this Item

• Earthworm species and burrows related to agricultural management of clover-grass rotations. (deposited 19 Apr 2012 06:29) [Currently Displayed]
  • Earthworm burrow number and vertical distribution are affected by the crop sequence of a grass-clover rotation system. (deposited 19 Apr 2012 06:24)