Integrating earthworm movement and life history through dynamic energy budgets.

ABSTRACT: Earthworms are considered ecosystem engineers and, as such, they are an integral part of the soil ecosystem. The movement of earthworms is significantly influenced by environmental factors such as temperature and soil properties. As movement may directly be linked to food ingestion, especially of endogeic species like Aporrectodea caliginosa, changes in those environmental factors also affect life history traits such as growth and reproduction. In our laboratory studies, earthworms showed a decrease in burrowing activity with decreasing moisture levels and, to some extent, the organic matter content. The burrowing activity of earthworms was also affected by temperature, for which the casts produced per earthworm was used as a proxy in laboratory experiments. We integrated changes in

SUBMITTER: Gergs A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9235907 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature