EARTHWORM COMMUNITIES IN ARABLE SOILS OF THE EAST-SLOVAK LOWLAND

Investigations of earthworm communities were carried out at nine resea rch localities in the East-Slovak Lowland. They involved arable fields with five soil types: luvic chernozem, eutric cambisol, orthic and al bic luvisol and eutric fluvisol. The sampling was performed in two veg etation seasons (1989 to 1990), earthworms were collected by hand-sort ing method. Twelve earthworm species were recorded, Aporrectodea calig inosa, Aporrectodea rosea and Allolobophora leoni being the most frequ ent and numerous ones. Localities with luvic chernozem were inhabited by very similar earthworm communities, as well as those with eutric fl uvisol. Certain levels of similarity were also observed within the com munities in eutric cambisol and orthic and albic luvisols. No correlat ions were found between soil characteristics and density and biomass o f earthworms.