Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1111/ejss.12942
Licence creative commons licence
Title (Primary) Grassland management effects on earthworm communities under ambient and future climatic conditions
Author Singh, J.; Cameron, E.; Reitz, T.; Schädler, M.; Eisenhauer, N.
Source Titel European Journal of Soil Science
Year 2021
Department BZF; BOOEK; iDiv
Volume 72
Issue 1
Page From 343
Page To 355
Language englisch
Topic T5 Future Landscapes
Supplements https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/action/downloadSupplement?doi=10.1111%2Fejss.12942&file=ejss12942-sup-0001-TableS1.doc
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/action/downloadSupplement?doi=10.1111%2Fejss.12942&file=ejss12942-sup-0002-TableS2.doc
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https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/action/downloadSupplement?doi=10.1111%2Fejss.12942&file=ejss12942-sup-0004-FigureS4.doc
Keywords Climate change, earthworms; Ecosystem engineers; Drought; Land-use intensity; Land use types; Soil biodiversity; Warming
Abstract The impacts of climate change on biodiversity can be modulated by other changing environmental conditions, e.g. induced by land‐use change. The potential interactive effects of climate change and land use have rarely been studied for soil organisms. To test the effects of changing climatic conditions and land use on soil invertebrates, we examined earthworm communities across different seasons in different grassland‐use types (intensively managed grassland, extensively managed meadow, and extensively managed sheep pasture).We predicted that the strength of climate change effects would vary with season and land use. Overall, extracted earthworm populations showed the strongest variations in response to the season, indicating major differences in activity patterns and extraction efficiency, while climate change and different grassland‐use types had fewer and weaker effects. Future climate, characterized by slightly higher precipitation in spring and fall but a strong reduction during the summer, had positive effects on the abundance of extracted adult earthworms in spring but then reduced the abundance of active earthworms across the remaining seasons. In contrast, the total biomass of juveniles tended to be consistently lower under future climate conditions. Earthworm species responded differently to the climate change and different grassland management types, and these species‐specific responses further varied strongly across seasons. Intensive grassland management had negative effects, due to plant community composition, while sheep grazing favoured earthworm populations, due to dung deposition. There were only limited interactive effects between climate and land use, which thus did not support our main hypothesis. Nevertheless, these results highlight the complex and context‐dependent responses of earthworm communities and activity patterns to climate change, with potential consequences for long‐term population dynamics and crucial ecosystem functions.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=22807
Singh, J., Cameron, E., Reitz, T., Schädler, M., Eisenhauer, N. (2021):
Grassland management effects on earthworm communities under ambient and future climatic conditions
Eur. J. Soil Sci. 72 (1), 343 - 355 10.1111/ejss.12942