Earthworm research in Austria: current status, knowledge gaps and future directions

Summary Earthworms are crucial for terrestrial ecosystems, affecting soil physical and chemical properties, and ecological interactions. They serve as indicators of environmental change, soil biodiversity and soil health. However, earthworms are rarely included in ongoing biodiversity monitoring programmes. This systematic review of the available literature on earthworms in Austria focusses particularly on land use impacts. Austria has a great diversity of land use practices and a comparatively diverse earthworm fauna comprising around 60 species. We identified 20 field studies published in peer-reviewed journals, including at least one earthworm community metric (abundance, biomass, species richness/diversity) since the year 2000. Most studies were conducted after 2014, focussing on earthworms in agroecosystems. One study addressed forests and nature conservation areas each, with none on urban ecosystems. The limited number of studies precluded a statistical analysis of land use impacts. Our literature review revealed that a greater diversity of ecosystems must be studied systematically to analyse the effects of land use on earthworms in Austria. This will become even more important, given the recently adopted European Soil Monitoring Law aiming to achieve healthy soils by 2050. The law specifically mentions earthworm abundance and diversity as important indicators of soil biodiversity loss and health.