Russian Journal of Ecosystem Ecology (Sep 2021)

INFLUENCE OF EXOTIC EISENIA NANA (OPISTHOPORA, LUMBRICIDAE) ON THE CATIONIC COMPOSITION OF THREE TYPES OF SOILS IN SOUTH WESTERN SIBERIA (EXPERIMENT IN MICROCOSMS)

  • K. A. Babiy,
  • S. Yu. Kniazev,
  • E. V. Golovanova,
  • A. S. Abramenko

DOI
https://doi.org/10.21685/2500-0578-2021-3-4
Journal volume & issue
no. 3

Abstract

Read online

Climate change contributes to the invasion of earthworms into new lands. While invading, the invasive species alter the chemical composition and properties of the soil, which leads to the alteration of nutrients availability for plants. In the South of the Western Siberia there has been found a new exotic species Eisenia nana (Perel, 1985), which can become a competitor of the native species Eisenia nordenskioldi nordenskioldi (Eisen, 1879), spread mainly in natural habitats; and synanthropic Lumbricus rubellus (Hoffmeister, 1843). The aim of this research is to study and compare the influence of earthworm species: native, synanthropic and exotic, on the alteration of the cations NH4 +, K+, Na+, Mg2+, Ca2+ availability in the three types of soil: haplic chernozem, calcic chernozem and greyic phaeozem. For the purpose of the research, a laboratory experiment has been conducted in microcosms in the conditions of constant climate chambers. The quantity content of water-soluble cations has been determined using capillary electrophoresis system Capel-104T. The data on the influence of E. nana on the cation composition of soils has been presented for the first time. Earthworms change the availability of cations in all the three types of soils under study. With that, the character of the changes depends on the initial qualities of earthworms. It has been established that the exotic species influences on the cations composition in a similar way to that of the native E. n. nordenskioldi, but differs in the pH value. The biggest difference has been observed between the exotic and synanthropic species in K+ in the two soils and in one type of soil in the content of NH4 +, Na+, Mg2+ and Ca2+ ions. Therefore, the invasion of E. nana does not incur any potential danger of altering the cation composition of soils for natural habitats of E. n. nordenskioldi, but might probably alter the cation composition of the disturbed habitats, where L. rubellus has been noted.

Keywords