Global data on earthworm abundance, biomass, diversity and corresponding environmental properties

Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s).Earthworms are an important soil taxon as ecosystem engineers, providing a variety of crucial ecosystem functions and services. Little is known about their diversity and distribution at large spatial scales, despite the availability of considerable amounts of local-scale data. Earthworm diversity data, obtained from the primary literature or provided directly by authors, were collated with information on site locations, including coordinates, habitat cover, and soil properties. Datasets were required, at a minimum, to include abundance or biomass of earthworms at a site. Where possible, site-level species lists were included, as well as the abundance and biomass of individual species and ecological groups. This global dataset contains 10,840 sites, with 184 species, from 60 countries and all continents except Antarctica. The data were obtained from 182 published articles, published between 1973 and 2017, and 17 unpublished datasets. Amalgamating data into a single global database will assist researchers in investigating and answering a wide variety of pressing questions, for example, jointly assessing aboveground and belowground biodiversity distributions and drivers of biodiversity change.Peer reviewe

Global data on earthworm abundance, biomass, diversity and corresponding environmental properties

Earthworms are an important soil taxon as ecosystem engineers, providing a variety of crucial ecosystem functions and services. Little is known about their diversity and distribution at large spatial scales, despite the availability of considerable amounts of local-scale data. Earthworm diversity data, obtained from the primary literature or provided directly by authors, were collated with information on site locations, including coordinates, habitat cover, and soil properties. Datasets were required, at a minimum, to include abundance or biomass of earthworms at a site. Where possible, site-level species lists were included, as well as the abundance and biomass of individual species and ecological groups. This global dataset contains 10,840 sites, with 184 species, from 60 countries and all continents except Antarctica. The data were obtained from 182 published articles, published between 1973 and 2017, and 17 unpublished datasets. Amalgamating data into a single global database will assist researchers in investigating and answering a wide variety of pressing questions, for example, jointly assessing aboveground and belowground biodiversity distributions and drivers of biodiversity change

Investigation on some ecological condition of Cerasus Mahaleb (l.) Miller (Rock cherry sp.) in Khouzestan province (county baghmalek forests)

The aim of this study was to investigate the ecological condition  of Cerasus mahaleb, in Khouzestan province of Iran. For this 72 square plots (50×50 m) were used. At first 20 lines were allocated between valley and mountain tip at 100 m interval. Then the plots were allocated on each line by random-systematic method at 150 m interval. At each plot the associated plant cover, number of seedlings (natural regeneration of C. maheleb), soil physical and chemical properties, including pH, EC and soil particle distribution (texture) and topographical characteristics, including altitude, aspect and gradient, were studied and recorded. The collected data were analysied by PC-ORD (Nonmetric multidimensional scaling) and SPSS softwares. The results showed that the most frequency of Cerasus mahaleb was between 1950-2450 m above sea level on dry aspects (most in south-west aspect) with 50-70% and 30-50% gradient. The mean value of pH and EC were 7.84 and 13/08 ds⁄m,  respectively. Soil texture was clay, clay-loam and sandy-clay-loam. The results of this study also showed thatthe ecological condictions of Cerasus mahaleb were similar o those of Fraxinus rotundifolia, Amygdalus scoparia, Ficus carica, Salix persica, Celtis caucasica, Acer monspessulanum, Crataegus aronia, Lonicera nummularifolia and Juniperus polycarpus and there was least ecological similarity with Daphne mucronata, Quercus persica, Pistacia mutica and Pistacia khinjuk

Effect of Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Acacia salicina and Dalbergia sissoo plantation on soil macrofauna

Populus euphratica Oliv. forests in river floodplains of Khuzestan province are degraded heavily. Tree plantation is one of the methods for restoration of these degraded sites. The plantations of Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Acacia salicina and Dalbergia sissoo were established in randomized complete block design in 1993 with three replications along Dez river. Soil macrofauna were collected by hand sorting, using two randomly located 0.25m2 sampling frames at each plot. All macroinvertebrate organisms (macroscopic organisms) in litter and mineral soil up to 25cm, were collected. Totally, 18 samples were collected. In these treatments, earthworm constituted the largest part of soil macrofauna. Earthworm abundance and biomass were highest in Acacia plantation whereas Arthropods did not show any significant differences. Since soil macrofauna was dominated with earthworm, its variations are in line with earthworm. The abundance and biomass of earthworm and soil macrofauna were negatively correlated with the C/N ratio. Lower earthworm abundance and biomass under Eucalyptus plantation could be as a result of its leaf phenolics or soil nitrogen limitation. Totally, it could be concluded that different tree species had various effects on soil macrofauna (especially earthworm) abundance and biomass. As Acacia species increased the soil macrofauna and improved soil fertility, it could be preferred species for plantation in this area

The Epidemiology of Aggression and Associated Factors among Iranian Adult Population: A National survey

Background: This survey was conducted to determine the level of aggression among the Iranian adult population and underlying predisposing factors. Study design: A cross-sectional study. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 10,957 participants, involving 23 out of the 31 provinces of Iran in 2019. The outcome of interest was aggression, evaluated by the Buss & Perry aggression questionnaire. The association between aggression and 34 demographic, behavioral, social, and cultural characteristics was assessed using simple and multiple linear regression. Results: The overall mean (SD) score of aggression was 77.10 (22.53). Based on the severity of aggression, the participants were categorized into four groups as follows: 2,464 (23.1%) nonaggressive, 4,692 (43.9%) mild, 3,071 (28.8%) moderate, and 454 (4.2%) severe aggressive. Aggression was more likely to occur in people with the following characteristics: younger ages, having several siblings, lower ranks of birth, having an intimate friend of the opposite sex, having an aggressive father/mother, history of parental divorce, interest in watching action/porn movies, listening to music, history of escape from home/school, using neuropsychiatric drugs, using illicit drugs, history of suicidal thoughts/attempt, and family conflict and hostility. Aggression was less likely to occur with the following characteristics: reading, regular physical exercise, the ability to control anger, regular prayer, adherence to avoid lying, respect to other people's rights, sexual satisfaction, and attachment to parents. Conclusions: A majority of the population has some degree of aggression. Aggression is a multifactorial behavior corresponding with several demographical, social, cultural, and religious factors, some of which back to early childhood events

Global data on earthworm abundance, biomass, diversity and corresponding environmental properties

Data collated from data provided by original data collectors or from data provided within published articles. The MetaData.csv provides information on each of the original data sources, including bibliographic information about the original article and information on how many sites were sampled. The SiteData.csv gives site-level variables, such as geographic coordinates, the environmental parameters as well as site-level community metrics (species richness, total abundance and total biomass). The SppOccData.csv provides the observation level data - the occurrence, abundance and/or biomass of individual species/morpho-species/life-stage at a particular site. Not every data source contained such observation level data. Metadata information about the variables in each file are provided in the files MetaData_info.csv, SiteData_info.csv and SppOccData_info.csv, respectively. All files provided use the character encoding UTF-8, and missing values are represented by "NA"

Global distribution of earthworm diversity

Soil organisms, including earthworms, are a key component of terrestrial ecosystems. However, little is known about their diversity, their distribution, and the threats affecting them. We compiled a global dataset of sampled earthworm communities from 6928 sites in 57 countries as a basis for predicting patterns in earthworm diversity, abundance, and biomass. We found that local species richness and abundance typically peaked at higher latitudes, displaying patterns opposite to those observed in aboveground organisms. However, high species dissimilarity across tropical locations may cause diversity across the entirety of the tropics to be higher than elsewhere. Climate variables were found to be more important in shaping earthworm communities than soil properties or habitat cover. These findings suggest that climate change may have serious implications for earthworm communities and for the functions they provide

Global distribution of earthworm diversity

International audienceSoil organisms, including earthworms, are a key component of terrestrial ecosystems. However, little is known about their diversity, distribution, and the threats affecting them. Here, we compiled a global dataset of sampled earthworm communities from 6928 sites in 57 countries to predict patterns in earthworm diversity, abundance, and biomass. We identified that local species richness and abundance typically peaked at higher latitudes, patterns opposite to those observed in aboveground organisms. However, diversity across the entirety of the tropics may be higher than elsewhere, due to high species dissimilarity across locations. Climate variables were more important in shaping earthworm communities than soil properties or habitat cover. These findings suggest that climate change may have serious implications for earthworm communities and therefore the functions they provide