Guénola Pérès

Earthworm activity and soil structure changes due to organic enrichments in vineyard systems

Abstract The effect of organic enrichment on earthworm activity and soil structure was studied in two French vineyards, by comparing control and test plots. In each vineyard the organic matter quantitatively increased the abundance and biomass of the earthworm community. These increases were associated with a higher level of species diversity and a higher evenness corresponding to the development of endogeic community. These earthworm community changes were associated with an increase in granular bioturbated areas and in macroporosity in the top soil layer. The micromorphological approach incorporated an original process of image analysis which appeared to be an appropriate method for characterizing pore morphology in this study. The pores when characterized by their size and shape could be related to ecological groups and growth stages of earthworms.

Indicators for Monitoring Soil Biodiversity

A Bispo,3 D Cluzeau,4 R Creamer,1 M Dombos,I U Graefe,# PH Krogh,33 JP Sousa,44 G Peres,4 M Rutgers,11 A Winding,33 and J Rombke*II 7French Agency for Environment and Energy Management, France 8University of Rennes, France 6Teagasc, Ireland IResearch Institute for Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Hungary #Institut fur Angewandte Bodenbiologie, Germany 77Aarhus University, Denmark 88University of Coimbra, Portugal 66National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Netherlands IIECT Oekotoxikologie GmbH, Germany * J-Roembke@ect.de

In vivo 31P and 1H HR-MAS NMR spectroscopy analysis of the unstarved Aporrectodea caliginosa (Lumbricidae)

This study demonstrates that 31P and 1H high resolution-magic angle spinning (HR-MAS) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), a recently developed NMR technique, can be applied to the in vivo analysis of metabolites from an unstarved earthworm. The endogeic earthworm Aporrectodea caliginosa was cut into lengths and then the different body parts (anterior, middle, posterior) with the gut content were analyzed. With the HR-MAS NMR, metabolites show well-resolved signals, whereas, with conventional NMR, spectra are highly dependent on the gut content. 31P HR-MAS NMR has been used to evaluate the effect of an acute exposure of the earthworm to glyphosate. Our observations support a low toxicity of the herbicide and suggest that glyphosate could be trapped in the cutaneous mucus. Earthworms could therefore play a role in horizontal dispersion and stabilization of glyphosate in the drilosphere. Phosphorylated metabolites, such as phospholombricine and lombricine, were clearly identified and their amount measured during experiments. The 1H HR-MAS NMR method offers the opportunity to measure, on the same sample and simultaneously, both the hydrosoluble metabolites and lipids. The data on lipid location and relative succinate concentration shed light on the physiological and metabolic functions of the different body parts of the earthworm.