INFLUENCE OF FOREST DISTURBANCE ON EARTHWORM (OLIGOCHAETA) COMMUNITIES IN THE WESTERN GHATS (SOUTH-INDIA)

In the Western Ghats (South India), the natural evergreen forest has b een highly disturbed and fragmented for 150 years. The resultant veget ation is a mosaic of more or less disturbed forests, pastures, and cro ps (mainly paddy fields). This paper aims to assess the effects of ant hropic disturbance on earthworm communities. Earthworms were collected at the end of the rainy season in a wide range of milieux distinguish ed by their vegetation, soil properties and topography. The earthworms found belong to the families Octochaetidae, Megascolecidae and Monili gastridae. Densities ranged from 35.3 to 545.3 ind m(-2). Biomasses ra nged from 2.35 to 52.56 g m(-2). There was no clear relationship betwe en these community characteristics and the vegetation, soil properties or topography as pastures and forests supported high or low densities (or biomasses). Nevertheless, some species were restricted to pasture s, some species to forests and some species are found in all milieux. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.