Earthworm sampling

Summary

Earthworms are key organisms and indicators of soil quality, which also links to the productivity of an ecosystem. The higher the earthworm density and diversity, the better the earthworm’s living conditions and the more fertile is the soil. They are relatively easy to detect and determine into three ecological groups.
The number and distribution of the three ecological categories and the numerous earthworm species depends on soil management, soil type, the Vegetation and climate conditions.
In this technical note, various methods how to sample,
measure and interpret earthworms are shown.