Winter gifts for river ecosystems: a massive supply of earthworms in
early winter
Abstract
Terrestrial resource pulses can significantly affect the community
dynamics of freshwater ecosystems. Previously, its effect on the river
community is considered to be stronger in summer, while weaker in winter
when terrestrial invertebrates are less abundant. The movement of the
terrestrial earthworms are triggered in winter, so they may be supplied
to winter rivers as terrestrial resource pulse, but little is known
about it. Here, we report that the massive numbers of the terrestrial
earthworms were supplied intensively to an upstream of the small river
in early winter. In particular, we found large numbers of Megascolecidae
earthworms were supplied in an upstream of the small river in Northern
Japan. Furthermore, we observed that supplied earthworms were consumed
by salmonid fish species (masu salmon, white spotted char and rainbow
trout) and aquatic invertebrates (gammarid amphipod, planarian flatworm
and stonefly larvae). These findings suggests that the terrestrial
earthworms may play a key role in ecosystem functioning in winter when
severe and other resources are scarce.