Influence of environmental conditions on the composition of mesofauna and the number of earthworms in the soils of agrophytocenoses of the Кaliningrad region

The article is devoted to identification of the biodiversity of Lumbricidae in drained cultivated soils of varying degrees of gleying. The studies were carried out in 2020–2021 in the hay field in the Chernyakhovsky district of the Kaliningrad region (Lava-Pregolskaya lowland) and in the arable field of the Zelenogradsk district (Sambian plain). Representatives of Annelida and Mollusca types in the mesofauna of soils have a similar share, Nematoda species predominate. Representatives of eight main classes of the Arthropoda type are found in all soils. A neutral reaction in Sodpodzolic soils (Aric, Siltic, Drainic) in haymaking is favorable for earthworms (115– 159 pcs/m² ), and increased acidity in gley Cambisols (Aric, Loamic, Drainic) under barley culture negatively affects their numbers (on average 58 pcs/m² ). Gleysols (Aric, Siltic, Drainic) with a period of surface flooding contain an average of 95 worms per 1 m2 . In catenas, there is an increase in the number of earthworms from elevated and less moistened areas to lowered and more moistened soils. Dendrodrilus rubidus f. tenuis, Octolasia lacteum, Lumbricus rubellus, Aporrectodea caliginosa, Lumbricus castaneus, rarely Eiseniella tetraedra were found in Gleyic Albeluvisols (Aric, Siltic, Drainic) in the hay field. Aporrectodea caliginosa, Lumbricus rubellus predominate in arable Cambisols (Aric, Loamic, Drainic). The largest number of earthworms is usually concentrated in a layer of 0–10 cm. But in the Cambisols in June, this layer dries up and seasonal migration of worms to a depth of 10-20 cm is observed. Such a type of earthworms as Octolasion lacteum is an indicator of soils with a close occurrence of carbonates (CaCO₃), and Eiseniella tetraedra occurs mainly in soils with a period of surface flooding.

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