BACKGROUND The interplay between diet, gut bacteria and health still remain enigmatic. Here, we addressed this issue through the investigation of the effect of crystalline cellulose on the earthworm Lumbricus terrestris gut microbiota composition and survival. METHODS Earthworm gut contents were analyzed after 14 days of feeding using a mixed 16S rRNA gene sequencing approach, in addition to ...

background: the indispensable use of agrochemicals has created serious threats for earthworms abundance and their population therefore, several earthworm protocols have gained acceptance for use in tests to assess the effects of soil chemicals on soil organisms. dichlorovos, an organophosphorus pesticide, is one of the widely used pesticides in agricultural fields of m.p., central india. the ai...

In a ®eld trial (1985±1996) on a sandy loam soil the effects of tractor traf®c and fertilisation on earthworm populations were investigated. The tractor traf®c treatments compared normal farm practice (`normal') with reduced tractor traf®c (`low'). In the fertilisation treatments, three different cattle-manure management methods were compared. The cattle manure was applied as diluted slurry, as...

Urea is the most commonly used nitrogen fertilizer worldwide. The overused urea in agricultural fields may affect the soil organisms especially, the earthworms which are known well for their role in soil fertility. Earthworms are typically inferred as soil indicators without which soil fertility cannot be measured directly. An acute toxicity test of urea to earthworm (Eisenia fetida) was perfor...

Energy crisis, climate changes, and biodiversity losses have reinforced the drive for more ecologically-based approaches for environmental management. Such approaches are characterized by the use of organisms rather than energy-consuming technologies. Although earthworms are believed to be potentially useful organisms for managing ecosystem services, there is actually no quantification of such ...

Interest in instrumental learning in earthworms dates back to 1912 when Yerkes concluded that they can learn a spatial discrimination in a T-maze. Rosenkoetter and Boice determined in the 1970s that the "learning" that Yerkes observed was probably chemotaxis and not learning at all. We examined a different form of instrumental learning: the ability to learn both to escape and to avoid an aversi...

These examples can be taken as typical of what has happened wherever native vegetation has been cleared and replaced by pasture. There has been no competition between native and introduced species, either for food or for living space. All but subsoil species among the native earthworms have died out before the introduced lumbricids became established, and the few subsoil earthworms that have re...

All higher plants produce polyphenols, for defence against above-ground herbivory. These polyphenols also influence the soil micro- and macro-fauna that break down plant leaf litter. Polyphenols therefore indirectly affect the fluxes of soil nutrients and, ultimately, carbon turnover and ecosystem functioning in soils. It is unknown how earthworms, the major component of animal biomass in many ...