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Title: Global data on earthworm abundance, biomass, diversity and corresponding environmental properties
Abstract Earthworms are an important soil taxon as ecosystem engineers, providing a variety of crucial ecosystem functions and services. Little is known about their diversity and distribution at large spatial scales, despite the availability of considerable amounts of local-scale data. Earthworm diversity data, obtained from the primary literature or provided directly by authors, were collated with information on site locations, including coordinates, habitat cover, and soil properties. Datasets were required, at a minimum, to include abundance or biomass of earthworms at a site. Where possible, site-level species lists were included, as well as the abundance and biomass of individual species and ecological groups. This global dataset contains 10,840 sites, with 184 species, from 60 countries and all continents except Antarctica. The data were obtained from 182 published articles, published between 1973 and 2017, and 17 unpublished datasets. Amalgamating data into a single global database will assist researchers in investigating and answering a wide variety of pressing questions, for example, jointly assessing aboveground and belowground biodiversity distributions and drivers of biodiversity change.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1855277 1831952
NSF-PAR ID:
10300218
Author(s) / Creator(s):
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Date Published:
Journal Name:
Scientific Data
Volume:
8
Issue:
1
ISSN:
2052-4463
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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