Dataset Information

Global distribution of earthworm diversity.

ABSTRACT: 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.

SUBMITTER: Phillips HRP

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7335308 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Global distribution of earthworm diversity.

Phillips Helen R P HRP Guerra Carlos A CA Bartz Marie L C MLC Briones Maria J I MJI Brown George G Crowther Thomas W TW Ferlian Olga O Gongalsky Konstantin B KB van den Hoogen Johan J Krebs Julia J Orgiazzi Alberto A Routh Devin D Schwarz Benjamin B Bach Elizabeth M EM Bennett Joanne J Brose Ulrich U Decaëns Thibaud T König-Ries Birgitta B Loreau Michel M Mathieu Jérôme J Mulder Christian C van der Putten Wim H WH Ramirez Kelly S KS Rillig Matthias C MC Russell David D Rutgers Michiel M Thakur Madhav P MP de Vries Franciska T FT Wall Diana H DH Wardle David A DA Arai Miwa M Ayuke Fredrick O FO Baker Geoff H GH Beauséjour Robin R Bedano José C JC Birkhofer Klaus K Blanchart Eric E Blossey Bernd B Bolger Thomas T Bradley Robert L RL Callaham Mac A MA Capowiez Yvan Y Caulfield Mark E ME Choi Amy A Crotty Felicity V FV Dávalos Andrea A Cosin Darío J Diaz DJD Dominguez Anahí A Duhour Andrés Esteban AE van Eekeren Nick N Emmerling Christoph C Falco Liliana B LB Fernández Rosa R Fonte Steven J SJ Fragoso Carlos C Franco André L C ALC Fugère Martine M Fusilero Abegail T AT Gholami Shaieste S Gundale Michael J MJ López Mónica Gutiérrez MG Hackenberger Davorka K DK Hernández Luis M LM Hishi Takuo T Holdsworth Andrew R AR Holmstrup Martin M Hopfensperger Kristine N KN Lwanga Esperanza Huerta EH Huhta Veikko V Hurisso Tunsisa T TT Iannone Basil V BV Iordache Madalina M Joschko Monika M Kaneko Nobuhiro N Kanianska Radoslava R Keith Aidan M AM Kelly Courtland A CA Kernecker Maria L ML Klaminder Jonatan J Koné Armand W AW Kooch Yahya Y Kukkonen Sanna T ST Lalthanzara H H Lammel Daniel R DR Lebedev Iurii M IM Li Yiqing Y Lidon Juan B Jesus JBJ Lincoln Noa K NK Loss Scott R SR Marichal Raphael R Matula Radim R Moos Jan Hendrik JH Moreno Gerardo G Morón-Ríos Alejandro A Muys Bart B Neirynck Johan J Norgrove Lindsey L Novo Marta M Nuutinen Visa V Nuzzo Victoria V Rahman P Mujeeb M Pansu Johan J Paudel Shishir S Pérès Guénola G Pérez-Camacho Lorenzo L Piñeiro Raúl R Ponge Jean-François JF Rashid Muhammad Imtiaz MI Rebollo Salvador S Rodeiro-Iglesias Javier J Rodríguez Miguel Á MÁ Roth Alexander M AM Rousseau Guillaume X GX Rozen Anna A Sayad Ehsan E van Schaik Loes L Scharenbroch Bryant C BC Schirrmann Michael M Schmidt Olaf O Schröder Boris B Seeber Julia J Shashkov Maxim P MP Singh Jaswinder J Smith Sandy M SM Steinwandter Michael M Talavera José A JA Trigo Dolores D Tsukamoto Jiro J de Valença Anne W AW Vanek Steven J SJ Virto Iñigo I Wackett Adrian A AA Warren Matthew W MW Wehr Nathaniel H NH Whalen Joann K JK Wironen Michael B MB Wolters Volkmar V Zenkova Irina V IV Zhang Weixin W Cameron Erin K EK Eisenhauer Nico N

Science (New York, N.Y.) 20191001 6464

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 ...[more]

PMID: 31649197

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Project description:Sewage water from around the world contains an abundance of short plasmids, several of which harbor antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs). The global dynamics of plasmid-derived antimicrobial resistance and functions are only starting to be unveiled. Here, we utilized a previously created data set of 159,332 assumed small plasmids from 24 different global sewage samples. The detailed phylogeny, as well as the interplay between their protein domains, ARGs, and predicted bacterial host genera, were investigated to understand sewage plasmidome dynamics globally. A total of 58,429 circular elements carried genes encoding plasmid-related features, and MASH distance analyses showed a high degree of diversity. A single (yet diverse) cluster of 520 predicted Acinetobacter plasmids was predominant among the European sewage water. Our results suggested a prevalence of plasmid-backbone gene combinations over others. This could be related to selected bacterial genera that act as bacterial hosts. These combinations also mirrored the geographical locations of the sewage samples. Our functional domain network analysis identified three groups of plasmids. However, these backbone domains were not exclusive to any given group, and Acinetobacter was the dominant host genus among the theta-replicating plasmids, which contained a reservoir of the macrolide resistance gene pair msr(E) and mph(E). Macrolide resistance genes were the most common in the sewage plasmidomes and were found in the largest number of unique plasmids. While msr(E) and mph(E) were limited to Acinetobacter, erm(B) was disseminated among a range of Firmicutes plasmids, including Staphylococcus and Streptococcus, highlighting a potential reservoir of antibiotic resistance for these pathogens from around the globe. IMPORTANCE Antimicrobial resistance is a global threat to human health, as it inhibits our ability to treat infectious diseases. This study utilizes sewage water plasmidomes to identify plasmid-derived features and highlights antimicrobial resistance genes, particularly macrolide resistance genes, as abundant in sewage water plasmidomes in Firmicutes and Acinetobacter hosts. The emergence of macrolide resistance in these bacteria suggests that macrolide selective pressure exists in sewage water and that the resident bacteria can readily acquire macrolide resistance via small plasmids.

Project description:BACKGROUND:Earthworm communities are generally very sensitive to physico-chemical properties of the soil in different agro-ecosystem i.e. cultivated or non-cultivated which directly or indirectly influence the earthworm survival. The difference in physico-chemical properties of soil at different sites contributed to the formation of population patches for earthworm species. Understanding the physico-chemical properties of soil at a particular site could facilitate the prediction of earthworm species at that site. The objective of the present study was to investigate the diversity, abundance, and distribution of earthworms in cultivated and non-cultivated agroecosystems and their physico-chemical properties affecting the earthworm diversity and abundance. RESULTS:Total 10 species of earthworms i.e. Amynthas alexandri, Amynthas morrisi, Eutyphoeus incommodus, Eutyphoeus waltoni, Metaphire birmanica, Metaphire houlleti, Metaphire posthuma, Octochaetona beatrix, Perionyx excavatus, and Polypheretima elongata, were reported. Out of all the reported species, Metaphire posthuma was found to be the most abundant earthworm species in both cultivated and non-cultivated agroecosystems with the occurrence at 56.81% sites. The Shannon-Wiener index (H), Margalef species richness index (DMg) and Pielou species evenness (E) was ranged from 0 to 0.86, 0 to 0.64 and 0.78 to 1 respectively. The principal component analysis resulted in four principal components i.e. PC1, PC2, PC3 and PC4 which contributing variance (%) of 22.96, 19.37, 14.23 and 10.10 respectively. The principal component analysis also showed that physico-chemical parameters of soil such as EC, pH, TDS, texture, OC, moisture, etc. play a critical role in earthworm distribution. CONCLUSION:The conventional farming system has a negative effect on the earthworm diversity in the soil while the physico-chemical properties of soil also have a determinant effect on the same. Earthworms abundance in the present study have significant direct relation with soil properties at a particular site and vice versa. The diversity indices also change due to the conventional farming system which directly affects the earthworm abundance.

Dataset Information

Global distribution of earthworm diversity.

Publications

Global distribution of earthworm diversity.

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