Corresponding author: Jean-Pierre Rossi (
Academic editor: Samuel James
The impact of earthworms on both soil physical properties and soil organic matter dynamics has been well documented (
We provide the results of a 5 dates survey of earthworm community in a grass savanna of Lamto (Ivory Coast) conducted between 1995 and 1997. At each sampling date, earthworm community was assessed by hand-sorting a set of 100 soil monoliths distributed on a regular grid of 5 m mesh. These data were analyzed in
Earthworms play an important role is soil functioning because they affect soil physical structure, soil matter dynamics and interact with other soil dwellers (
It is beyond the scope of the present paper to discuss the statistical approaches that allow to perform such data processing. Various tools are available and the Partial Triadic Analysis (PTA) has proved to be effective on several occasions (
Because space-time analyses are still not familiar to many biologists, we believe that an educational effort is welcome. One reason why the dissemination of such methods is still limited while computer resources are available (
The data were collected a grass savanna (
Earthworms were sampled by hand-sorting a 25 × 25 × 10 cm soil monolith. Hand-sorting was carried out in the field where specimens were identified, counted and released in the soil. Samples were taken in a 10 × 10 grid with a mesh size of 5 m. Since earthworm sampling was carried out on 5 dates, samples were displaced, from one date to another, along a spiral whose origin was represented by the point sampled at the first date. In so doing we avoided taking two soil monoliths exactly at the same location (
The grass savanna in the Station d’Ecologie Tropicale de Lamto (Ivory Coast) (
The earthworm community of the grass savannas in Lamto comprises several species (
sampling was carried out on 5 occasions: May and November 1995, June and December 1996 and June 1997.
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Earthworm community in the grass savanna of Lamto (Ivory Coast)
1
Earthworm density
Column label | Column description |
---|---|
sampling point | sampling point number |
x coordinates (m) | the x coordinates of sampling locations |
y coordinates (m) | the y coordinates of sampling locations |
|
counts: individuals per sampling unit for the |
Millsonia anomala (adults) | counts: individuals per sampling unit for Millsonia anomala (adults) |
Millsonia anomala (subadults) | counts: individuals per sampling unit for Millsonia anomala (subadults) |
Millsonia anomala (juveniles) | counts: individuals per sampling unit for Millsonia anomala (juveniles) |
Millsonia anomala (cocoons) | counts: individuals per sampling unit for Millsonia anomala (cocoons) |
Dichogaster agilis (adults) | counts: individuals per sampling unit for Dichogaster agilis (adults) |
Dichogaster agilis (subadults) | counts: individuals per sampling unit for Dichogaster agilis (subadults) |
Dichogaster agilis (juveniles) | counts: individuals per sampling unit for Dichogaster agilis (juveniles) |
counts: individuals per sampling unit for |
|
other | counts: individuals per sampling unit for other earthworms |
|
abundance: individuals per m2 for the |
Millsonia anomala (adults) | abundance: individuals per m2 for Millsonia anomala (adults) |
Millsonia anomala (subadults) | abundance: individuals per m2 for Millsonia anomala (subadults) |
Millsonia anomala (juveniles) | abundance: individuals per m2 for Millsonia anomala (juveniles) |
Millsonia anomala (cocoons) | abundance: individuals per m2 for Millsonia anomala (cocoons) |
Dichogaster agilis (adults) | abundance: individuals per m2 for Dichogaster agilis (adults) |
Dichogaster agilis (subadults) | abundance: individuals per m2 for Dichogaster agilis (subadults) |
Dichogaster agilis (juveniles) | abundance: individuals per m2 for Dichogaster agilis (juveniles) |
abundance: individuals per m2 for |
|
other | abundance: individuals per m2 for other earthworms |
We thank Dr R. Vuattoux, Director of the Station d’Ecologie de Lamto at the time of the work was carried out, for his assistance and interest. We are indebted to R. Zouzou Bi Danko for technical assistance in the field.
JPR and PL designed and performed the experiments and wrote the present note.
Spatial distribution of the endogeic earthworm
Earthworm community in upper soil of a grass savanna in Lamto (Ivory Coast)
Space-time density data
The data set provides both count data and the corresponding abundances (individuals per m2) for the earthworms sampled in the upper soil (10 cm depth) in a grass savana (Lamto, Côte d'Ivoire). Sampling was carried out on 100 sampling points located on a square grid with spacing of 5 m. The grid was sampled on 5 occasions: May and November 1995, June and December 1996 and June 1997. Sampling coordinates are given in meters.
File: oo_55683.xls