The Meek Shall Inherit the Burrow: Feedback in Earthworm Soil Modification

From its beginnings, the hallmark of earthworm biology has been a strong emphasis on the study of organism–environment interaction. Thereby the radical effects that the earthworms can have in soils have become amply documented. It seems that much less is known about how earthworm individuals and populations themselves are affected by their own soil engineering, although various feedbacks are conceivable. I review the sporadic discussion on this issue which has mainly occurred within evolutionary biology and recently within the niche construction theory. The discussion consists of widely differing viewpoints. However, it points to opportunities for supplementing earthworm ecology with more evolutionary oriented approach and usage of earthworms as model organisms in research of general interest. I apply the concept of ecological inheritance for evaluating the idea that burrow and living site inheritance is an important feature in the ecology of the dew worm Lumbricus terrestris L.