Global distribution of earthworm diversity

Soil organisms, including earthworms, are a key component of terrestrial ecosystems. However, little is known about their diversity, their distribution, and the threats affecting them. We compiled a global dataset of sampled earthwormcommunities from 6928 sites in 57 countries as a basis for predicting patterns in earthwormdiversity, abundance, and biomass. We found that local species richness and abundance typically peaked at higher latitudes, displaying patterns opposite to those observed in aboveground organisms. However, high species dissimilarity across tropical locations may cause diversity across the entirety of the tropics to be higher than elsewhere. Climate variables were found to be more important in shaping earthwormcommunities than soil properties or habitat cover. These findings suggest that climate change may have serious implications for earthwormcommunities and for the functions they provide.