Soil moisture enhances the vibrations induced by moving earthworms, especially of detritivores
5 affiliations
- 1Conservation Ecology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES), University of Groningen 1 , Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
- 2BirdEyes, Centre for Global Ecological Change at the Faculties of Science & Engineering and Campus Fryslân, University of Groningen 2 , Wirdumerdijk 34, 8911 CE Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
- 3Amsterdam Institute for Life and Environment, Section Ecology and Evolution, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam 3 , De Boelelaan 1107, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- 4Science Team Sustainability & Wellbeing, Faculty Campus Fryslân, University of Groningen 4 , Doelestrjitte 8, 8911 DX Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
- 5Department of Coastal Systems, NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research 5 , Landsdiep 4, 1797 SZ 't Horntje, Texel, The Netherlands
Abstract
Earthworms (Lumbricidae) are moisture-loving soil-dwellers that can be categorized into two feeding guilds with distinct behaviours: detritivores and geophages. Detritivores feed on litter fragments and geophages on smaller litter particles mixed with soil. When earthworms move within and across soil layers to forage, soil characteristics might influence the scale of these movements and their detectability to predators. To investigate the extent to which the detection of earthworm movements and the vibrations they thereby generate is affected by soil moisture, we used an innovative method to detect and quantify vibrations of moving earthworms emitted through the soil. We designed a mesocosm experiment in which we recorded, with a geophone, the movement-induced vibrations of detritivores and geophages in drier and wetter soils. Earthworm vibrations were detected best at 200 Hz and were detected significantly more in wetter than in drier soils. Moreover, in wetter soils, vibrations induced by detritivores were detected more frequently and at higher intensities than those of geophages. These findings suggest differences in activity levels between detritivores and geophages, as a function of soil moisture content. The observed activity patterns are likely to have food web consequences because earthworm consumers relying on mechanoreceptors to detect prey might detect detritivores more often, specifically in wetter soils.
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BibTeX
@article{veenstra2026soil,
title = {{Soil moisture enhances the vibrations induced by moving earthworms, especially of detritivores}},
author = {Renée Veenstra and Wouter Halfwerk and Mohamed Henriques and Jurgen van Hal and Matty P. Berg and Theunis Piersma},
journal = {Royal Society Open Science},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1098/rsos.260667},
url = {https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article/13/10/260667/483803/Soil-moisture-enhances-the-vibrations-induced-by},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Soil moisture enhances the vibrations induced by moving earthworms, especially of detritivores
AU - Renée Veenstra
AU - Wouter Halfwerk
AU - Mohamed Henriques
AU - Jurgen van Hal
AU - Matty P. Berg
AU - Theunis Piersma
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/21
JO - Royal Society Open Science
DO - 10.1098/rsos.260667
UR - https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article/13/10/260667/483803/Soil-moisture-enhances-the-vibrations-induced-by
AB - Earthworms (Lumbricidae) are moisture-loving soil-dwellers that can be categorized into two feeding guilds with distinct behaviours: detritivores and geophages. Detritivores feed on litter fragments and geophages on smaller litter particles mixed with soil. When earthworms move within and across soil layers to forage, soil characteristics might influence the scale of these movements and their detectability to predators. To investigate the extent to which the detection of earthworm movements and the vibrations they thereby generate is affected by soil moisture, we used an innovative method to detect and quantify vibrations of moving earthworms emitted through the soil. We designed a mesocosm experiment in which we recorded, with a geophone, the movement-induced vibrations of detritivores and geophages in drier and wetter soils. Earthworm vibrations were detected best at 200 Hz and were detected significantly more in wetter than in drier soils. Moreover, in wetter soils, vibrations induced by detritivores were detected more frequently and at higher intensities than those of geophages. These findings suggest differences in activity levels between detritivores and geophages, as a function of soil moisture content. The observed activity patterns are likely to have food web consequences because earthworm consumers relying on mechanoreceptors to detect prey might detect detritivores more often, specifically in wetter soils.
SN - 2054-5703
ER -