Journal article
Lumbricid earthworms in the Palouse Region
Northwest science., Vol.76(3), pp.257-260
2002
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/933
Abstract
Farmers, gardeners, and ecologists view earthworms as beneficial soil organisms indicative of healthy soils. Earthworms in the Palouse region of eastern Washington and northern Idaho (USA) have not been well documented. Since the early 1900s, most of the Palouse had been converted to dryland farming except for intermittent streams and areas too rocky to till. We surveyed 46 sites in spring 1999 to determine the occurrence and distribution of earthworm species within the agricultural landscape. Although species diversity in the agricultural fields was low, three species (Aporrectodea rosea, Dendrodrilus rubidus and Octolasion cyaneum) are reported in the survey area for the first time. No native earthworms were found. Ten alien lumbricid species were found. The most common, Aporrectodea trapezoides [A. caliginosa], was found at 65% of all sites. Of the farmed field sites, 61% contained one or more species. This preliminary survey provides the baseline knowledge necessary to design future studies on earthworms.
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Details
- Title
- Lumbricid earthworms in the Palouse Region
- Creators
- M.F. Fauci (Author)D.F. Bezdicek (Author)
- Publication Details
- Northwest science., Vol.76(3), pp.257-260
- Academic Unit
- Northwest Science
- Publisher
- WSU Press
- Identifiers
- 99900502626201842
- Copyright
- In copyright ; openAccess ; http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ ; http://purl.org/eprint/accessRights/OpenAccess
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article