This technical note shows various methods to sample, measure and interpret earthworms, which are key organisms and indicators of soil quality, and also link to the productivity of an ecosystem. The higher the earthworm density and diversity, the better the earthworm’s living conditions and the more fertile is the soil.
Earthworms are relatively easy to detect and determine into three ecological groups. The number and distribution of the three ecological categories and the numerous earthworm species depends on soil management, soil type, the vegetation and climate conditions.
The technical note can be downloaded from Organic Eprints.
Further information
Contact
- Joséphine Peigné, ISARA
- Kathrin Huber, FiBL
- Lukas Pfiffner, FiBL
About FertilCrop
Fertility Building Management Measures in Organic Crop-ping Systems – FertilCrop is a project funded CORE Organic Plus Funding Bodies, being partners of the FP7 ERA-Net project CORE Organic Plus. The overall aim of FertilCrop is to develop efficient and sustainable management techniques aimed at increasing crop productivity in organic farming systems. More information about FertilCrop is available at www.fertilcrop.net.
Download
orgprints.org: Earthworm sampling
Citation
Peigne, Joséphine, Huber, Kathrin and Pfiffner, Lukas (2018): Earthworm sampling. Technical Note. Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Frick, Switzerland and Ecole d’ingénieurs ISARA, Lyon Cedex, France.