Role of Earthworms in Soil Fertility Maintenance through the Production of Biogenic Structures
Table 2
Effect of land conversion and management practices on changes in functional catagories of earthworms in the Indo-Gangetic plains, (SE, ).
Sites
Density (Anecic) (Individuals m-2 year-1)
Biomass (Anecic) (gm-2 year-1)
Density (Endogeics) (Individuals m-2 year-1)
Biomass (Endogeics) (gm-2 year-1)
Primary forest
141 (3.2)a
123 (11.6)a
2127 (13.8)a
2255.8 (20.6)a
Productive agroecosystem
1141 (11.6)b
1323 (23.5)b
275 (6.3)b
2157.5 (13.3)b
Low productive agroecosystem
1106 (7.9)c
1318 (27.8)b
245 (3.2)c
294.5 (6.8)c
Agriculture fallow
164 (3.8)d
142 (2.9)c
2274 (14.6)d
2518.7 (42.6)d
Sodic ecosystems
0
0
0
0
5-year-old reclaimed agroecosystem
0
0
143 (12.7)e
114.4 (5.8)c
10-year-old reclaimed agroecosystem
0
0
282 (24.7)d
160.6 (15.3)b
Acacia plantation in reclaimed soils
144(5.3)a
1132 (5.9)a
2133 (9.6)a
2279.3(21.5)e
Values followed by the different superscript letters are significantly different in different sampling sites. Values followed by different subscript numbers are significantly different in same sampling sites [11].