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The Overwinter Survival of three Earthworm Species in Mono- and Multispecific Assemblages

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Abstract

Overwintering in temperate zone is an ecologically complex and energetically expensive period for lumbricids. At the adult stage lumbricid species are mostly freeze avoiding animals and spend the unfavourable temperature conditions in the deeper soil horizons. Overwintering earthworms rely on resources accumulated during the previous vegetative season; this suggests substantial metabolic losses or even death of specimens with insufficient internal reserves. Considering that food resources can be restricted in dense lumbricid associations, it was hypothesised that high density could be detrimental for overwintering earthworms. In the microcosm experiments in a beech/oak forest, overwintering success at various densities was investigated for three lumbricid species representing epigeic (Lumbricus rubellus), anecic (L. terrestris) and endogeic (Aporrectodea caliginosa) functional groups, and in a mixed association containing all three species. It was shown that density should be considered as a factor affecting the overwintering success of adult earthworms of any functional group. In any species, the increase of density of conspecifics or neighbourhood with specimens from other functional groups tended to worsen the state of overwintering earthworms and/or reduced their reproduction rates in spring. The negative consequences of overwintering were the worst for adults of L. rubellus and the weakest for A. caliginosa. Thus, overwintering can change the structure of multispecific earthworm associations, and consequently the interactions between separate species and their relative activities in the soil system.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I thank Nina Potapova, Janusz Uchmański, Józef Wróbel and the staff of the Mikolajki Hydrobiological Station PAS for the assistance. The work was supported in 2006–2008 by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Poland (project no. 2P04F03030) and by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project no. 06-04-49685).

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    A. V. Uvarov

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Uvarov, A.V. The Overwinter Survival of three Earthworm Species in Mono- and Multispecific Assemblages. Biol Bull Russ Acad Sci 48, 821–828 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1062359021130069

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