Earthworm populations in soils contaminated by the chernobyl atomic power station accident, 1986–1988

A study of earthworm populations in the 30 km zone around the Chernobyl atomic power station was carried out in 1986–1988. Significant differences in earthworm population numbers were found between highly contaminated and control plots in summer and autumn 1986 and in April 1987. But in the autumn o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Soil biology & biochemistry 1992-12, Vol.24 (12), p.1729-1731
Main Authors: Krivolutzkii, D.A., Pokarzhevskii, A.D., Viktorov, A.G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aporrectodea caliginosa
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Summary:A study of earthworm populations in the 30 km zone around the Chernobyl atomic power station was carried out in 1986–1988. Significant differences in earthworm population numbers were found between highly contaminated and control plots in summer and autumn 1986 and in April 1987. But in the autumn of 1988 the earthworm population numbers in contaminated plots were higher than in the control plots. The ratio of mature to immature specimens was higher in 1986 in the contaminated plots in comparison with the control plots. Only one species of earthworms, Dendrobaena octaedra, was found in contaminated forest plots during the first 2 yr following the accident but in the control forest plots Apporectodea caliginosa was also found.
ISSN:0038-0717
1879-3428
DOI:10.1016/0038-0717(92)90178-Z