ISSN : 2663-2187

Monthly Variation of Diversity, Density and Biomass of Earthworm in Mid Hills of North Western Himalayas under Three Different Land Use Systems, District Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh

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Sonia Rathour1,2* and Jatinder Mohan Julka1
ยป doi: 10.33472/AFJBS.6.5.2024. 6315-6337

Abstract

The current research aims to assess monthly fluctuations in the diversity, population density, and biomass of earthworms within three different land use categories: cultivated land, orchards, and mixed forest land. In total, six earthworm species were identified, categorized across five genera and three families. These species were categorized into two groups: 1) Exotic species including Metaphirebirmanica (Rosa), Amynthasalexandri (Kinberg),Eudriluseugeniae (Kinberg) and M. houlleti (Perrier); 2) Native peregrine species comprising Eutyphoeuswaltoni (Michaelsen) and Octochaetonabeatrix (Beddard). The mango orchard exhibited the highest earthworm density and biomass (49.89 m -2 & 74.98 gm-2), while the cultivated land showed the lowest values (36.87 m -2 & 64.66 gm-2). The presence of exclusively exotic and Indian peregrine earthworm taxa suggested a significant impact of human activities on the landscape. Diverse earthworm densities and biomass levels across different land use types were linked to variations in vegetation, environmental conditions, soil characteristicsand human interventions. Earthworm populations tended to increase during the monsoon season and decrease in winter. Notably, less impacted land use types such as mixed forests exhibited a higher species diversity, with six species observed compared to five in cultivated land and four in orchards, indicating the impact of land utilization on earthworm populations.

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