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Habitat components and population density drive plant litter consumption by Eudrilus eugeniae (Oligochaeta) under tropical conditions
Author(s) -
KAMDEM Michel Mathurin,
NGAKOU Albert,
YANOU NJINTANG Nicolas,
VOUA OTOMO Patricks
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
integrative zoology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 34
ISSN - 1749-4877
DOI - 10.1111/1749-4877.12503
Subject(s) - litter , tithonia , plant litter , population , earthworm , organic matter , biology , agronomy , soil water , environmental science , sunflower , population density , ecology , ecosystem , demography , sociology
The ingestion of organic and mineral materials by earthworms is a prominent functional role that has profound consequences for the decomposition and stabilization of soil organic matter. To investigate the litter consumption of the African nightcrawler earthworm Eudrilus eugeniae under different tropical conditions, we used DNA barcoding to identify specimens of E. eugeniae collected from sites across the Adamawa region in Cameroon, and studied the influence of habitat suitability (soil properties), soil moisture, litter type, and population density on litter consumption. A total of four litter consumption experiments were carried out using soils collected from refuse disposal sites, agricultural lands, and savannahs dominated by the Mexican sunflower Tithonia diversifolia . The results revealed that litter consumption significantly increased in the refuse disposal and agricultural soils as opposed to the Mexican sunflower ( T. diversifolia ) soil, a cow dung enriched substrate, and a sterile soil horizon from the savannah ( P < 0.05). The optimum moistures for litter consumption were between 24% and 50%. Litter type did not affect the consumption rate of the earthworms ( P > 0.05). We observed a general positive density‐dependent consumption with litter mass loss increasing with increasing density. Our results suggest that E. eugeniae has a strong direct effect on the decomposition of plant materials than expected from previous estimations, and that litter consumption rates are determined by several habitat components and population density.