Earthworms: Types, Roles and Research

$210.00

Clayton G. Horton (Editor)

Series: Insects and Other Terrestrial Arthropods: Biology, Chemistry and Behavior
BISAC: SCI070020

Earthworms are often recognized as key organisms in soil ecosystems. In Chapter One, the authors propose endozoochory (seed dispersal through ingestion) as a missing mechanism of Oligochaeta dispersal and put forward the fusion-orthogonalization model for the diversification and speciation of the Oligochaeta populations. Chapter Two discusses the biodiversity of earthworms in Madhya Pradesh, a central part of India. Earthworm diversity in some parts of India is still poorly explored, but findings suggest that the Madhya Pradesh region is rich in biodiversity of earthworms. In Chapter Three, a predation pressure is presented as an important variable which can be viewed as another type of pressure on the earthworm population, such as pollution, environmental stress or land management, causing additional or extrinsic mortality to earthworm population. Chapter Four covers the key role played by earthworms as ecosystem engineers through their bioturbation activities involving soil mixing, their influence on the decomposition and mineralization of litter by breaking down organic matter, and their influence on the gas and water exchange or nutrient transfer in the soil. Chapter Five reviews recent research regarding the assessment of various pollutants on earthworms with emphasis on the possible improvement of the investigation in soil pollution monitoring using these organisms. (Imprint: Nova)

 

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Preface

Chapter 1. Evolution and Life of Oligochaetes
Tomáš Pavlíček, Oren Pearlson, Tova Cohen, Mete Mısırlıoğlu, Shweta Yadav, Petr Král and Michèle Glasstetter (Institute of Evolution, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel)

Chapter 2. A Contribution to Earthworm Diversity of Central India (Madhya Pradesh)
Ashutosh Vishwakarma and Shweta Yadav (Department of Zoology, School of Biological Sciences, Dr. Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya (A Central University), Sagar, India)

Chapter 3. Earthworm Population Dynamics: Modeling Approach and Challenges
Davorka K. Hackenberger, Branimir K. Hackenberger and Željka Lončarić (Department of Biology, University of Osijek, Osijek, Croatia)

Chapter 4. Earthworms as Ecosystem Engineers: A Review
Renée-Claire Le Bayon, Géraldine Bullinger-Weber, Andreas Schomburg, Pascal Turberg, Rodolphe Schlaepfer and Claire Guenat (Functional Ecology Laboratory, Biological Institute, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland, and others)

Chapter 5. Earthworms as a Suitable Organism for Soil Pollution Monitoring: Possibilities and Limitations
Mirna Velki and Sandra Ečimović (Department of Biology, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Osijek, Croatia)

Index

 

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