Regenwürmer (Oligochaeta: Lumbricidae) in der Hangcatena

Abstract

Höser, N.: Earthworms (Oligochaeta: Lumbricidae) in a slope soil catena. - Hercynia N. F. 45 (2012): 193 –208 In studies of slope–valley floor soil profiles, the characteristic species spectrum of earthworms in Central German lime-hornbeam-oak woodland was determined. Dendrobaena vejdovskyi and D. pygmaea emerge as the character species. With the development of humus horizons in the soil profile, D. octaedra and Dendrodrilus rubidus appear. In the core areas of soils in wet locations, Eiseniella tetraedra, Aporrectodealimicola, and Murchieona muldali are found.It is characteristic of the relief sequence of the slope–valley floor profile that Proctodrilus antipai inhabits the edge of the valley bottom at the foot of the slope, while P. tuberculatus occurs both on the slope itself and in the alluvial meadows of the valley floor.On the slope and in the valley bottom soil, the layer profiles provide the abiotic preconditions for the ecological niches required by earthworms. This is discussed using the example of suspended capillary water at the layer boundaries, which is apparently a soil attribute attractive to P. tuberculatus and resting stages of Aporrectodea species. The relationships between endogeic and anecic species and soil displacement on slopes, in alluvial meadows, and in arable fields show that Ap. caliginosa and Octolasion cyaneum are associated with early developmental phases (or illuvial characteristics) of mineral soils, and that O. lacteum prefers soils closer to a climax profile with more humus. Since soil displacements, owing to the long formation times of new soil horizons, are erased only after a long period of time, while on the other hand intact horizons remain in the “memory” of a soil for just as long, the presence of Ap. caliginosa and O. cyaneum in woodland indicates past soil displacements, and presence of O. lacteum in areas without trees indicates that woodland was once present.