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dc.contributor.authorBacher, M. G*
dc.contributor.authorFenton, Owen*
dc.contributor.authorBondi, G.*
dc.contributor.authorCreamer, Rachel E.*
dc.contributor.authorKarmarkar, M.*
dc.contributor.authorSchmidt, Olaf*
dc.date.accessioned2019-06-11T16:29:13Z
dc.date.available2019-06-11T16:29:13Z
dc.date.issued2018-12-19
dc.identifier.citationBacher 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.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11019/1669
dc.descriptionpeer-revieweden_US
dc.description.abstractBackground 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.en_US
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherBiomed Centralen_US
dc.relation.ispartofseriesBMC Ecology;vol 18
dc.subjectGrasslanden_US
dc.subjectEarthwormsen_US
dc.subjectLumbricidaeen_US
dc.subjectSoil faunaen_US
dc.subjectSoil biodiversityen_US
dc.subjectSamplingen_US
dc.subjectSpatial distributionen_US
dc.subjectPopulation aggregationen_US
dc.subjectPopulationsen_US
dc.titleThe impact of cattle dung pats on earthworm distribution in grazed pasturesen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
dc.date.updated2018-12-23T05:19:05Z
dc.language.rfc3066en
dc.rights.holderThe Author(s)
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1186/s12898-018-0216-6
dc.contributor.sponsorDepartment of Agriculture, Food and the Marineen_US
dc.contributor.sponsorGrantNumber13/S/468en_US
refterms.dateFOA2019-06-11T16:29:14Z


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