View in EDS

Putting earthworm conservation on the map : Shortfalls and solutions for developing earthworm conservation

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Title: Putting earthworm conservation on the map : Shortfalls and solutions for developing earthworm conservation
Authors: Gérard, Sylvain, Decaëns, Thibaud, Butt, Kevin R., Briones, Maria J.I., Capowiez, Yvan, Cluzeau, Daniel, Hoeffner, Kevin, Le Bayon, Renée Claire, Marchán, Daniel F., Marsden, Claire, Muys, Bart, Pelosi, Céline, Pérès, Guénola, Phillips, Helen R.P., Santini, Luca, Thuiller, Wilfried, Hedde, Mickaël
Contributors: Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme
Publisher Information: Elsevier B.V.
Publication Year: 2024
Collection: Helsingfors Universitet: HELDA – Helsingin yliopiston digitaalinen arkisto
Subject Terms: Annelid, Earthworm ecology, Functional ecology, Metrics, Monitoring, Spatial scales, Ecology, evolutionary biology
Description: Earthworms are keystone organisms that influence both soil function and community assembly of other soil organisms. However, soils are increasingly threatened by global change, so there is an urgent need to consider earthworms in conservation strategies. Earthworm monitoring has been promoted in numerous European and country research programs, and the global interest in earthworm conservation is rising, resulting in a rapid increase in the availability of earthworm data. However, most research focuses on a limited number of local-scale indicators, mainly based on abundance, biomass, and species richness of assemblages along with Bouche's ecological categories. We argue that these metrics are insufficient to effectively address earthworm conservation issues. We suggest four ecological characteristics which may be more informative for the development of conservation plans. Measurement of how much a species is (i) rare or common, (ii) native/nonnative, endemic and invasive, (iii) a specialist or generalist, and (iv) a winner or loser in the Anthropocene are all promising tools to support earthworm diversity conservation. These metrics could also be applied to functional traits, but better definition of these traits is fundamental. Finally, we emphasize the need to broaden spatial scales in earthworm studies by analyzing alpha, beta and gamma components of diversity, as local diversity alone can be misleading. ; Peer reviewed
Document Type: article in journal/newspaper
File Description: application/pdf
Language: English
Relation: We would like to thank the FRB (Fondation pour la recherche sur la biodiversite) through the CESAB program, who offered ideal surroundings leading to this publication. We would also like to thank the Ecole Normale Paris-Saclay and INRAE department AgroEcoSystem for providing the corresponding author's PhD grant, and INRAE GloWorms. Finally, we are grateful to Vincent Devictor and Romy Zeiss for their insightful conversations and feedback on this work, and to Mathieu Coulis, Forest Botial-Jarvis, and iNat user "gem_ash" for providing valuable pictures for illustration. We have added references for all species cited in this work, as we believe that species descriptions should be treated like other research articles and appropriately cited.; Gérard , S , Decaëns , T , Butt , K R , Briones , M J I , Capowiez , Y , Cluzeau , D , Hoeffner , K , Le Bayon , R C , Marchán , D F , Marsden , C , Muys , B , Pelosi , C , Pérès , G , Phillips , H R P , Santini , L , Thuiller , W & Hedde , M 2025 , ' Putting earthworm conservation on the map : Shortfalls and solutions for developing earthworm conservation ' , Biological Conservation , vol. 302 , 110911 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2024.110911; http://hdl.handle.net/10138/588978; 85211001940; 001385378600001
Availability: http://hdl.handle.net/10138/588978
Rights: cc_by ; info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess ; openAccess
Accession Number: edsbas.81AA7A4A
Database: BASE
Description
Abstract:Earthworms are keystone organisms that influence both soil function and community assembly of other soil organisms. However, soils are increasingly threatened by global change, so there is an urgent need to consider earthworms in conservation strategies. Earthworm monitoring has been promoted in numerous European and country research programs, and the global interest in earthworm conservation is rising, resulting in a rapid increase in the availability of earthworm data. However, most research focuses on a limited number of local-scale indicators, mainly based on abundance, biomass, and species richness of assemblages along with Bouche's ecological categories. We argue that these metrics are insufficient to effectively address earthworm conservation issues. We suggest four ecological characteristics which may be more informative for the development of conservation plans. Measurement of how much a species is (i) rare or common, (ii) native/nonnative, endemic and invasive, (iii) a specialist or generalist, and (iv) a winner or loser in the Anthropocene are all promising tools to support earthworm diversity conservation. These metrics could also be applied to functional traits, but better definition of these traits is fundamental. Finally, we emphasize the need to broaden spatial scales in earthworm studies by analyzing alpha, beta and gamma components of diversity, as local diversity alone can be misleading. ; Peer reviewed