Do vibrations from wind turbines and highways affect earthworm communities in agricultural landscapes?

It is well known that vibrations affect earthworm behaviour at microscale, but no studies are known on the long-term effect of vibrations from the technosphere at macroscale. In this study, earthworm communities were sampled in three agricultural landscapes of central Belgium, using a design with transects away from wind turbines, in parallel to or perpendicular to highways. This design allowed calculation of a vibration coefficient for every sample plot. Also. other environmental variables, related to soil and cropping system, were available. Results of linear mixed models show that diversity, abundance and biomass of earthworm communities were mainly explained by factors related to the cropping system (soil work, organic matter management, N fertilization) and soil humidity. Neither the wind turbine or highway components of the vibration coefficient significantly contributed to any of the regression models. We conclude that, at least under the conditions of temperate agricultural systems, wind turbines and highway infrastructures do not seem to have a negative effect on the long-term composition and structure of earthworm communities.