Summary
Earthworms, which contribute to important soil functions, suffer from intensive agriculture. Their response depends among other things on the earthworm ecological group (anecic, endogeic, epigeic) and the combination of the applied farming practices. To advice on methodological adaptations that enhance earthworm-mediated soil functions, effects of different practices on earthworms need to be studied in concert. We investigated the effects of tillage intensity (conventional, reduced, no tillage) and crop rotation diversity (simple = wheat, barley; diverse = wheat, peas, oil seed rape) on earthworm density and community composition in a Swedish long-term experiment. Furthermore, we calculated annual earthworm bioturbation to quantify the effects of farming practices on earthworm functions. T
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