1,1,2,1- 1Estonian University of Life Sciences, Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Chair of Soil Science, Estonia
- 2Tallinn University of Technology, Tartu College, Estonia
Earthworms, among other soil organisms, play a role in integrating various soil conditions and the impact of management practices. Although they are underrepresented in harmonised soil monitoring, they are valuable indicators of soil quality across different agricultural land uses. To connect soil biological diversity and abundance with soil quality in a consistent way, it requires long-term, standardized, and reusable datasets that are both machine-readable and compatible across different systems.
We introduce a harmonised earthworm database from Estonia that supports soil health assessment across croplands and grasslands in the Boreal region. The database compiles data from national survey programs and research projects conducted between 1995 and 2022, containing 1292 sampling points from 259 farmer-managed fields. Earthworms were sampled mainly in autumn and identified as 12 species representing three different ecological groups. The dataset includes the abundance of adults and juveniles, diversity, biomass, and individual mass, along with soil properties, soil types, textures, land-use categories, cropping systems, and tillage practices.
Legacy datasets were integrated by harmonising methods, cleaning data, and standardising variables with the documentation of sampling designs, analytical methods, and metadata. The database is being prepared for open publication under FAIR principles, with machine-readable formats and ongoing development of a data management plan and DOI assignment.
The first research based on this dataset indicated that land use is a primary factor structuring earthworm community composition, whereas soil properties regulate earthworm abundance [1]. This database provides a foundation for future soil biodiversity research under changing land use.
Reference:
[1] Sutri M et al. (2025). Earthworm community structure under different land-use systems. Applied Soil Ecology, 211, 106151.
How to cite: Konsap, K., Sutri, M., Kuu, A., Escuer-Gatius, J., Ivask, M., and Shanskiy, M.: A harmonised long-term and multi-site earthworm database from Estonia for boreal cropland and grassland soil assessments, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-18996, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-18996, 2026.
