Impact of land use and geological conditions on selected physical soil properties in relation to the earthworm abundance and biomass along an altitudinal gradient in Slovakia

Varga, Jozef, 1993-

Impact of land use and geological conditions on selected physical soil properties in relation to the earthworm abundance and biomass along an altitudinal gradient in Slovakia / Jozef Varga, Radoslava Kanianska, Ján Spišiak. -- © 2018 Jozef Varga et al., published by Sciendo. The aim of the study was to analyse the impact of land use and altitudinal gradient including geological conditions on selected soil physical properties with subsequent effect on earthworms as important soil organisms. The research was conducted at three study sites (Očová-OC, Tajov-TA, Liptovská Teplička-LT) situated in the different climatic and natural conditions of Slovakia each with 3 plots differing in land use (arable land-AL, permanent grasslands-PG, forest land-FL). During 2014 over two periods, we measured soil penetration resistance (PR) with total depth of the measurement (DP) and soil moisture (SM). Earthworms were hand sorted counted and weighed. We found out high variability of measured parameters conditioned by time, space (altitudinal gradient) and land use. PR values of all measurements ranged from 0.19 to 5.00 MPa, DP values from 0.02 to 0.80 m and soil moisture from 2 to 50%. Paired samples test confirmed differences

In Soil Science Annual. -- Warszawa : Polskie Towarzystwo Gleboznawcze, 2018. -- ISSN 2300-4967. -- ISSN 2300-4975. -- Vol. 69, no. 3 (2018), pp. 160-168