Research Days 2023 - On Demand Presentations
Type of Presentation
Poster Session
Location
On Demand
Abstract
Invasive exotic earthworms have undesired ecological effects on structure, function, and biodiversity of forest ecosystems in the Great Lakes region. Biological parameters including body length, weight, growth rate, and regeneration patterns of earthworms are necessary to understand their life cycle and impacts on ecological processes such as nutrient biogeochemistry cycling and carbon sequestration in the forests, as well as for forest management practices. In this work, earthworms were surveyed in main forest types of the Huron Mountains Preserve of Michigan, Upper Peninsula during the period of May 2021 to October 2022. Earthworms were captured from established sampling quadrates using a mustard solution. Each earthworm species was identified, with its body length and dry weight recorded. Results showed that Dendrobaena octaedra was the dominant earthworm species, followed by Aporrectodea longa and Lumbricus terrestris. L. terrestris had the largest body dimension among the three invasive exotic earthworm types, with a mean length and dry weight of 60.4mm and 0.254g, respectively. D. octaedra had the smallest body size, with an average value of 25.5mm and 0.012g in length and mass. Body dimension of A. longa was between the values of L. terrestris and D. octaedra. The regression equation of body length-dry weight relationship for total earthworms was W = 0.000007L2.258. Specifically, the length-weight relations were W = 0.00001L2.135, W = 0.000001L2.816, and W = 0.000003L2.618 for D. octaedra, A. longa and L. terrestris, respectively. Our study suggests that variations of composition, biological features, and micro-environmental conditions in the selected forest types could be responsible for these differentiations of earthworm body features.
Faculty / Staff Sponsor
Xiaoyong Chen
Presentation File
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Body Dimension and Length-Weigh Relationships of Invasive Exotic Earthworm Species in Huron Mountains Forests
On Demand
Invasive exotic earthworms have undesired ecological effects on structure, function, and biodiversity of forest ecosystems in the Great Lakes region. Biological parameters including body length, weight, growth rate, and regeneration patterns of earthworms are necessary to understand their life cycle and impacts on ecological processes such as nutrient biogeochemistry cycling and carbon sequestration in the forests, as well as for forest management practices. In this work, earthworms were surveyed in main forest types of the Huron Mountains Preserve of Michigan, Upper Peninsula during the period of May 2021 to October 2022. Earthworms were captured from established sampling quadrates using a mustard solution. Each earthworm species was identified, with its body length and dry weight recorded. Results showed that Dendrobaena octaedra was the dominant earthworm species, followed by Aporrectodea longa and Lumbricus terrestris. L. terrestris had the largest body dimension among the three invasive exotic earthworm types, with a mean length and dry weight of 60.4mm and 0.254g, respectively. D. octaedra had the smallest body size, with an average value of 25.5mm and 0.012g in length and mass. Body dimension of A. longa was between the values of L. terrestris and D. octaedra. The regression equation of body length-dry weight relationship for total earthworms was W = 0.000007L2.258. Specifically, the length-weight relations were W = 0.00001L2.135, W = 0.000001L2.816, and W = 0.000003L2.618 for D. octaedra, A. longa and L. terrestris, respectively. Our study suggests that variations of composition, biological features, and micro-environmental conditions in the selected forest types could be responsible for these differentiations of earthworm body features.