Soil Biological Quality Index based on earthworms (QBS-e). A new way to use earthworms as bioindicators in agroecosystems

Traditionally, earthworms are considered one of the most frequently used bioindicators to evaluate the sustainability of soil use. Therefore a new index, called QBS-e (Soil Biological Quality Index based on earthworms) has been provided in order to improve the monitoring of the soil's biological fertility in the rural environment, as well as for use by non-experts in earthworm taxonomy. We present two case studies to test the application of this new practical tool: one in horticultural agroecosystems and the other in vineyards in North-Eastern Italy, and we compare the QBS-e method with the traditional method of earthworm diversity analysis. We analysed the differences in earthworm fauna between organic and conventional agroecosystems to assess if some particular agronomical practices affect earthworms. The results obtained with the two methods are comparable: this seems to demonstrate the effectiveness of using the QBS-e index in order to save time and costs in soil monitoring programmes. In addition, we propose a simple software to calculate the QBS-e index value and to help with the attribution of the correct ecological category to the sampled specimens.