Earthworm burrowing

Earthworm burrowing supports soil structure maintenance and facilitates water regulation, root proliferation, carbon cycling and nutrient availability.

Our research aims at quantifying earthworm burrowing rates, i.e. how fast earthworms burrow, at how burrowing rates are affected by soil conditions and vary between earthworm species, and at how much energy earthworms need to burrow. We focus primarily on soil physical constraints for burrowing, such as temperature, soil moisture and bulk density – the latter two governing soil mechanical resistance.

We use experimental approaches in the laboratory to study earthworm behaviour and to quantify earthworm burrowing and associated energy costs at time scales of days, and perform experiments under field conditions to monitor burrowing over several months. Our research contributes to improved quantitative understanding of how earthworm burrowing is affected by changes in land use, soil management and climate, which is fundamental knowledge needed to estimate consequences on earthworm-mediated soil processes and functions.

Selected publications

Arrázola-Vásquez et al., 2024, European Journal of Soil Biology 121, 103619; Arrázola-Vásquez et al., 2022, Applied Soil Ecology 178, 104568; Arrázola-Vásquez, 2023, Doctoral Thesis No 2023:34.

On-going projects

• Bioturbation by earthworms in Sweden: impacts of climate and land use
• Quantifying the energy costs of earthworms burrowing activity under a climate change scenario

Finansiering

Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development (Formas), Swedish Royal Academy of Forest and Agricultural Sciences (KSLA)

Team

Elsa Arrázola Vásquez, Rebecca Naomi ter Borg, Mats Larsbo, Daniel Iseskog och Thomas Keller.