Land Use and Soil Properties Drive Earthworm Community Assembly in Recently Irrigated Semi-Arid Soils of Northern Patagonia, Argentina

Autores
Quiroga, Marina; Bazzani, Julia Lucia; Martinez, Roberto Simon; Domínguez, Anahí; Bedano, José Camilo
Año de publicación
2026
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
Earthworms are ecosystem engineers that are sensitive to land-use intensification and edaphic conditions, yet their ecology remains poorly understood in transformed semi-arid landscapes. We hypothesized that, in recently colonized agroecosystems, land-use intensity and physicochemical soil conditions jointly filter the earthworm assembly. In the recently irrigated Lower Valley of the Negro River, Patagonia, Argentina, we sampled earthworms and soils across five land uses—riparian reference sites, fruit orchards, pastures, cereal crops, and horticulture plots—in landscapes dominated by Natrargid Ustolls and Fluventic Haplocambids. We found five species, all of which were exotic Lumbricidae, including the first Argentine record for Murchieona minuscula, indicating a recent colonization following human-mediated niche construction that created an ecological island. The earthworm abundance and biomass were highest in permanent and semi-permanent uses and were driven primarily by soil moisture, pH, and particulate organic matter. Crucially, our results reveal that land-use intensity filters communities by restricting the initial colonization rather than through local extinctions. These findings confirm that soil properties mediate the impact of land use on earthworm assemblages. The inclusion of pastures and fruit orchards in the rotations favors the earthworm populations that, despite low diversity, enhance soil functioning and contribute to agricultural sustainability in semi-arid irrigated agroecosystems.
EEA Valle Inferior
Fil: Quiroga, Marina. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Río Negro; Argentina
Fil: Quiroga, Marina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Río Negro; Argentina
Fil: Bazzani, Julia Lucia. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Río Negro; Argentina
Fil: Martinez, Roberto Simón. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Valle Inferior; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. CIT Río Negro; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Sede Atlántica; Argentina.
Fil: Domínguez, Anahí. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Biodiversidad y Ambiente; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Biodiversidad y Ambiente; Argentina
Fil: Bedano, José Camilo. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Biodiversidad y Ambiente; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Biodiversidad y Ambiente; Argentina
Fuente
Soil Systems 10 (4) : 48. (April 2026)
Materia
Earthworms
Soil Fauna
Land Use
Soil Properties
Lombriz de Tierra
Fauna del Suelo
Utilización de la Tierra
Propiedades del Suelo
Región Patagónica
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Repositorio
INTA Digital (INTA)
Institución
Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria
OAI Identificador
oai:localhost:20.500.12123/25794
Acceder
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oai_identifier_str oai:localhost:20.500.12123/25794
network_acronym_str INTADig
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network_name_str INTA Digital (INTA)
spelling Land Use and Soil Properties Drive Earthworm Community Assembly in Recently Irrigated Semi-Arid Soils of Northern Patagonia, ArgentinaQuiroga, MarinaBazzani, Julia LuciaMartinez, Roberto SimonDomínguez, AnahíBedano, José CamiloEarthwormsSoil FaunaLand UseSoil PropertiesLombriz de TierraFauna del SueloUtilización de la TierraPropiedades del SueloRegión PatagónicaEarthworms are ecosystem engineers that are sensitive to land-use intensification and edaphic conditions, yet their ecology remains poorly understood in transformed semi-arid landscapes. We hypothesized that, in recently colonized agroecosystems, land-use intensity and physicochemical soil conditions jointly filter the earthworm assembly. In the recently irrigated Lower Valley of the Negro River, Patagonia, Argentina, we sampled earthworms and soils across five land uses—riparian reference sites, fruit orchards, pastures, cereal crops, and horticulture plots—in landscapes dominated by Natrargid Ustolls and Fluventic Haplocambids. We found five species, all of which were exotic Lumbricidae, including the first Argentine record for Murchieona minuscula, indicating a recent colonization following human-mediated niche construction that created an ecological island. The earthworm abundance and biomass were highest in permanent and semi-permanent uses and were driven primarily by soil moisture, pH, and particulate organic matter. Crucially, our results reveal that land-use intensity filters communities by restricting the initial colonization rather than through local extinctions. These findings confirm that soil properties mediate the impact of land use on earthworm assemblages. The inclusion of pastures and fruit orchards in the rotations favors the earthworm populations that, despite low diversity, enhance soil functioning and contribute to agricultural sustainability in semi-arid irrigated agroecosystems.EEA Valle InferiorFil: Quiroga, Marina. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Río Negro; ArgentinaFil: Quiroga, Marina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Río Negro; ArgentinaFil: Bazzani, Julia Lucia. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Río Negro; ArgentinaFil: Martinez, Roberto Simón. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Valle Inferior; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. CIT Río Negro; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Sede Atlántica; Argentina.Fil: Domínguez, Anahí. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Biodiversidad y Ambiente; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Biodiversidad y Ambiente; ArgentinaFil: Bedano, José Camilo. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Biodiversidad y Ambiente; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Biodiversidad y Ambiente; ArgentinaMDPI2026-04-14T12:48:34Z2026-04-14T12:48:34Z2026-04-10info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/25794https://www.mdpi.com/2571-8789/10/4/482571-8789https://doi.org/10.3390/soilsystems10040048Soil Systems 10 (4) : 48. (April 2026)reponame:INTA Digital (INTA)instname:Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuariaenginfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)2026-04-16T09:53:31Zoai:localhost:20.500.12123/25794instacron:INTAInstitucionalhttp://repositorio.inta.gob.ar/Organismo científico-tecnológicoNo correspondehttp://repositorio.inta.gob.ar/oai/requesttripaldi.nicolas@inta.gob.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:l2026-04-16 09:53:32.111INTA Digital (INTA) - Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuariafalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Land Use and Soil Properties Drive Earthworm Community Assembly in Recently Irrigated Semi-Arid Soils of Northern Patagonia, Argentina
title Land Use and Soil Properties Drive Earthworm Community Assembly in Recently Irrigated Semi-Arid Soils of Northern Patagonia, Argentina
spellingShingle Land Use and Soil Properties Drive Earthworm Community Assembly in Recently Irrigated Semi-Arid Soils of Northern Patagonia, Argentina
Quiroga, Marina
Earthworms
Soil Fauna
Land Use
Soil Properties
Lombriz de Tierra
Fauna del Suelo
Utilización de la Tierra
Propiedades del Suelo
Región Patagónica
title_short Land Use and Soil Properties Drive Earthworm Community Assembly in Recently Irrigated Semi-Arid Soils of Northern Patagonia, Argentina
title_full Land Use and Soil Properties Drive Earthworm Community Assembly in Recently Irrigated Semi-Arid Soils of Northern Patagonia, Argentina
title_fullStr Land Use and Soil Properties Drive Earthworm Community Assembly in Recently Irrigated Semi-Arid Soils of Northern Patagonia, Argentina
title_full_unstemmed Land Use and Soil Properties Drive Earthworm Community Assembly in Recently Irrigated Semi-Arid Soils of Northern Patagonia, Argentina
title_sort Land Use and Soil Properties Drive Earthworm Community Assembly in Recently Irrigated Semi-Arid Soils of Northern Patagonia, Argentina
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Quiroga, Marina
Bazzani, Julia Lucia
Martinez, Roberto Simon
Domínguez, Anahí
Bedano, José Camilo
author Quiroga, Marina
author_facet Quiroga, Marina
Bazzani, Julia Lucia
Martinez, Roberto Simon
Domínguez, Anahí
Bedano, José Camilo
author_role author
author2 Bazzani, Julia Lucia
Martinez, Roberto Simon
Domínguez, Anahí
Bedano, José Camilo
author2_role author
author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Earthworms
Soil Fauna
Land Use
Soil Properties
Lombriz de Tierra
Fauna del Suelo
Utilización de la Tierra
Propiedades del Suelo
Región Patagónica
topic Earthworms
Soil Fauna
Land Use
Soil Properties
Lombriz de Tierra
Fauna del Suelo
Utilización de la Tierra
Propiedades del Suelo
Región Patagónica
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv Earthworms are ecosystem engineers that are sensitive to land-use intensification and edaphic conditions, yet their ecology remains poorly understood in transformed semi-arid landscapes. We hypothesized that, in recently colonized agroecosystems, land-use intensity and physicochemical soil conditions jointly filter the earthworm assembly. In the recently irrigated Lower Valley of the Negro River, Patagonia, Argentina, we sampled earthworms and soils across five land uses—riparian reference sites, fruit orchards, pastures, cereal crops, and horticulture plots—in landscapes dominated by Natrargid Ustolls and Fluventic Haplocambids. We found five species, all of which were exotic Lumbricidae, including the first Argentine record for Murchieona minuscula, indicating a recent colonization following human-mediated niche construction that created an ecological island. The earthworm abundance and biomass were highest in permanent and semi-permanent uses and were driven primarily by soil moisture, pH, and particulate organic matter. Crucially, our results reveal that land-use intensity filters communities by restricting the initial colonization rather than through local extinctions. These findings confirm that soil properties mediate the impact of land use on earthworm assemblages. The inclusion of pastures and fruit orchards in the rotations favors the earthworm populations that, despite low diversity, enhance soil functioning and contribute to agricultural sustainability in semi-arid irrigated agroecosystems.
EEA Valle Inferior
Fil: Quiroga, Marina. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Río Negro; Argentina
Fil: Quiroga, Marina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Río Negro; Argentina
Fil: Bazzani, Julia Lucia. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Río Negro; Argentina
Fil: Martinez, Roberto Simón. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Valle Inferior; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. CIT Río Negro; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Sede Atlántica; Argentina.
Fil: Domínguez, Anahí. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Biodiversidad y Ambiente; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Biodiversidad y Ambiente; Argentina
Fil: Bedano, José Camilo. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Biodiversidad y Ambiente; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Biodiversidad y Ambiente; Argentina
description Earthworms are ecosystem engineers that are sensitive to land-use intensification and edaphic conditions, yet their ecology remains poorly understood in transformed semi-arid landscapes. We hypothesized that, in recently colonized agroecosystems, land-use intensity and physicochemical soil conditions jointly filter the earthworm assembly. In the recently irrigated Lower Valley of the Negro River, Patagonia, Argentina, we sampled earthworms and soils across five land uses—riparian reference sites, fruit orchards, pastures, cereal crops, and horticulture plots—in landscapes dominated by Natrargid Ustolls and Fluventic Haplocambids. We found five species, all of which were exotic Lumbricidae, including the first Argentine record for Murchieona minuscula, indicating a recent colonization following human-mediated niche construction that created an ecological island. The earthworm abundance and biomass were highest in permanent and semi-permanent uses and were driven primarily by soil moisture, pH, and particulate organic matter. Crucially, our results reveal that land-use intensity filters communities by restricting the initial colonization rather than through local extinctions. These findings confirm that soil properties mediate the impact of land use on earthworm assemblages. The inclusion of pastures and fruit orchards in the rotations favors the earthworm populations that, despite low diversity, enhance soil functioning and contribute to agricultural sustainability in semi-arid irrigated agroecosystems.
publishDate 2026
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2026-04-14T12:48:34Z
2026-04-14T12:48:34Z
2026-04-10
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/25794
https://www.mdpi.com/2571-8789/10/4/48
2571-8789
https://doi.org/10.3390/soilsystems10040048
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/25794
https://www.mdpi.com/2571-8789/10/4/48
https://doi.org/10.3390/soilsystems10040048
identifier_str_mv 2571-8789
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv MDPI
publisher.none.fl_str_mv MDPI
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv Soil Systems 10 (4) : 48. (April 2026)
reponame:INTA Digital (INTA)
instname:Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria
reponame_str INTA Digital (INTA)
collection INTA Digital (INTA)
instname_str Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria
repository.name.fl_str_mv INTA Digital (INTA) - Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria
repository.mail.fl_str_mv tripaldi.nicolas@inta.gob.ar
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