Basic Research Tools for Earthworm Ecology

Table 3

Relative Merits of existing Earthworm Inoculation Techniques (adapted from [26]).

Technique	Advantages	Disadvantages
Turf Cutting and relaying	Protective microenvironment	Densities usually low
	Cocoons transferred	Little control over species/numbers
		Mainly shallow working worms
		Cutting machines/labour required
		Damage to collection site
Chemical/physical extraction with broadcasting	High densities possible	Protective micro-environment absent
	Species selection possible	No cocoon transfer
		Mainly deep burrowing worms
		Worms may be injured during extraction
		Laborious and expensive
		Damage to collection site
Earthworm Inoculation Unit (EIU) method	Protective microenvironment	Laborious and potentially expensive
	Species selection possible	(compared with above methods)
	Worms of known origin
	Cocoons transferred
	High densities possible