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The Meek Shall Inherit the Burrow: Feedback in Earthworm Soil Modification

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Biology of Earthworms

Part of the book series: Soil Biology ((SOILBIOL,volume 24))

Abstract

From its beginnings, the hallmark of earthworm biology has been a strong emphasis on the study of organism–environment interaction. Thereby the radical effects that the earthworms can have in soils have become amply documented. It seems that much less is known about how earthworm individuals and populations themselves are affected by their own soil engineering, although various feedbacks are conceivable. I review the sporadic discussion on this issue which has mainly occurred within evolutionary biology and recently within the niche construction theory. The discussion consists of widely differing viewpoints. However, it points to opportunities for supplementing earthworm ecology with more evolutionary oriented approach and usage of earthworms as model organisms in research of general interest. I apply the concept of ecological inheritance for evaluating the idea that burrow and living site inheritance is an important feature in the ecology of the dew worm Lumbricus terrestris L.

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Acknowledgements

This chapter is partly based on two talks given during 2009 in seminars organized by the Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki and The Finnish Society of Soil Sciences. The organizers are thanked for the possibility to participate the gatherings. I thank Stefan Schrader, Niki Grigoropoulou and Kevin Butt for providing photographs – the latter also for comments on the manuscript – and the publishers for permissions to use previously published material.

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  1. MTT, Plant Production, Soils, E-Building, 31600, Jokioinen, Finland

    Visa Nuutinen

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  1. Visa Nuutinen
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Correspondence to Visa Nuutinen .

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  1. Fac. Agriculture, Dept. Soil Science, Ankara University, Ankara, 06110, Turkey

    Ayten Karaca

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Nuutinen, V. (2011). The Meek Shall Inherit the Burrow: Feedback in Earthworm Soil Modification. In: Karaca, A. (eds) Biology of Earthworms. Soil Biology, vol 24. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14636-7_8

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