QBS-e Index, a tool based on earthworms for assessing the soil quality in agroecosystems and recent applications

The QBS-e index (Paoletti et al., 2013; Fusaro et al., 2018) is a recently proposed tool that is effective in investigating and communicating the influence of land use, evaluating ecosystem services, and protecting the integrity of the ecosystem through. This tool exploits the application of earthworms, a key actor in soil fertility, sensitive to mechanical processing, chemical inputs and sewage, simplification of ecosystems, salinization, and soil compaction or erosion. Modelled according to the QBS-ar (Parisi, 2001), The QBS-e index evaluates the number of earthworm specimens collected related to An Eco-Morphological Index score attributed concerning the composition patterns of the cenosis in conserved environments and the variability of biomass to each ecological category and stage of development of the earthworms collected. It was conceived for the academic but also for the farmer or operator without taxonomic skills but curious to independently monitor the level of soil quality in the rural context. The final QBS-e value is directly proportional to the degree of conservation of the considered site, and to the consequently soil quality class. With this index, it is possible to discriminate even the differences in management or concerning the levels detected in the surrounding landscape. Recently it has been possible to investigate the conditions between the abundances in specimens within the field and those in semi-natural environments in the immediate vicinity in Italian agroecosystems. In fact, concerning different agronomic interventions and landscape composition, a higher QBS-e value is observed in wooded or hedged areas and proximity to marginal vegetation. The differences between crops with and without cover crop could be detected more immediately, showing the presence of a tendency to maintain a higher level of soil quality between the external environment, with the presence of hedges and headlands, and the internal environment subject to cover crops.