In-situ tin casting combined with three-dimensional scanner to quantify
structural 1 characteristics of anecic earthworm burrows 2
Abstract
Earthworms play a critical role in soil ecosystems. Analyzing the
spatial structure of earthworm burrows is important to understand their
impact on water flow and solute transport. Existing in-situ extraction
methods for earthworm burrows are time-consuming, labor-intensive and
inaccurate, while CT scanning imaging is complex and expensive. The aim
of this study was to quantitatively characterize structural
characteristics (cross-sectional area (A), circularity (C), diameter
(D), actual length (Lt), tortuosity (τ)) of anecic earthworm burrows
that were open and connected at the soil surface at two sites of
different tillage treatments (no-till at Lu Yuan (LY) and rotary tillage
at Shang Zhuang (SZ)) by combining a new in-situ tin casting method with
three-dimensional (3D) laser scanning technology. The cross-sections of
anecic earthworm burrows were almost circular, and the C values were
significantly negatively correlated with D and A. Statistically, there
were no significant differences in the τ values (1.143 ± 0.082 vs 1.133
± 0.108) of anecic earthworm burrows at LY and SZ, but D (6.456 ± 1.585
mm) and A (36.929 ± 21.656 mm2) of anecic earthworm burrows at LY were
significantly larger than D (3.449 ± 0.531 mm) and A (9.786 ± 2.885 mm2)
at SZ. Our study showed that burrow structures at two different sites
differed from each other. Soil tillage methods, soil texture and soil
organic matter content at the two sites could have impacted earthworm
species composition, variation of earthworm size and the morphology of
burrows. The method used in this research enabled us to adequately
assess the spatial structure of anecic earthworm burrows in the field
with a limited budget.