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    The impact of cattle dung pats on earthworm distribution in grazed pastures

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    Author
    Bacher, M. G
    Fenton, Owen
    Bondi, G.
    Creamer, Rachel E.
    Karmarkar, M.
    Schmidt, Olaf
    Keyword
    Grassland
    Earthworms
    Lumbricidae
    Soil fauna
    Soil biodiversity
    Sampling
    Spatial distribution
    Population aggregation
    Populations
    Date
    2018-12-19
    
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    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/11019/1669
    Citation
    Bacher MG, Fenton O, Bondi G, Creamer RE, Karmarkar M, Schmidt O. The impact of cattle dung pats on earthworm distribution in grazed pastures. Bmc Ecology 2018;18; doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12898-018-0216-6.
    Abstract
    Background Grazed grassland management regimes can have various effects on soil fauna. For example, effects on earthworms can be negative through compaction induced by grazing animals, or positive mediated by increases in sward productivity and cattle dung pats providing a food source. Knowledge gaps exist in relation to the behaviour of different earthworm species i.e. their movement towards and aggregation under dung pats, the legacy effects of pats and the spatial area of recruitment. The present study addressed these knowledge gaps in field experiments, over 2 years, using natural and simulated dung pats on two permanent, intensively grazed pastures in Ireland. Results Dung pats strongly affected spatial earthworm distribution, with up to four times more earthworms aggregating beneath pats, than in the control locations away from pats. In these earthworm communities comprising 11 species, temporally different aggregation and dispersal patterns were observed, including absence of individual species from control locations, but no clear successional responses. Epigeic species in general, but also certain species of the anecic and endogeic groups were aggregating under dung. Sampling after complete dung pat disappearance (27 weeks after application) suggested an absence of a dung pat legacy effect on earthworm communities. Based on species distributions, the maximum size of the recruitment area from which earthworms moved to pats was estimated to be 3.8 m2 per dung pat. Since actual grazing over 6 weeks would result in the deposition of about 300 dung pats per ha, it is estimated that a surface area of 1140 m2 or about 11% of the total grazing area can be influenced by dung pats in a given grazing period. Conclusions This study showed that the presence of dung pats in pastures creates temporary hot spots in spatial earthworm species distribution, which changes over time. The findings highlight the importance of considering dung pats, temporally and spatially, when sampling earthworms in grazed pastures. Published comparisons of grazed and cut grasslands probably reached incorrect conclusions by ignoring or deliberately avoiding dung pats. Furthermore, the observed intense aggregation of earthworms beneath dung pats suggests that earthworm functions need to be assessed separately at these hot spots.
    Funder
    Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
    Grant Number
    13/S/468
    ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
    https://doi.org/10.1186/s12898-018-0216-6
    Scopus Count
    Collections
    Environment, Soils & Land Use
    Teagasc publications in Biomed Central

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