The earthworms feed on organic materials, fragment and digest them in the gut by their own enzymes and with the help of ingested microorganisms, and excrete nutritionally rich feces or casts. When earthworms feed on organic matter, they ingest many microorganisms, some of which are digested by the worms. However, certain survived organisms grow and flourish when the casts are excreted (Dash et ...

Ecological niche theory asserts that invading species become established only if introduced propagules survive stochastic mortality and can exploit resources unconsumed by resident species. Because their transportation is not controlled by plant health or biosecurity regulations, soil macrofauna decomposers, including earthworms are probably introduced frequently into non-native soils. Yet even...

This study investigated the copulatory behaviour of the lumbricid earthworm Eisenia fetida (Savigny, 1826) in a natural population, and the uniparental reproduction of E. fetida and E. andrei Bouché 1972, two closely-related species. Sperm transfer occurred in 61 % of the matings observed, of which 88.2 % showed bi-directional sperm transfer, 9.8 % unidirectional sperm transfer and one earthwor...