Anecic, endogeic, epigeic or all three - acknowledging the compositional nature of earthworm ecological group data in biodiversity analysis

Summary

Agriculture and biodiversity are closely connected. Especially the soil ecosystem is crucial in this relation. Earthworms are seen as good indicators for the health and functioning of the soil. Beneath different biodiversity measurese earthworm ecological group data is analysed to assess soil biodiversity, fertility and capability to deliver ecosystem services. However this kind of data is compositional and needs a special statistical treatment. New available methods for this purpose were applied to data from the BIOBIO project (www.biobio-indicator.org) to gain better understanding of the complex relationship between earthworms, agricultural management and environment.