During the last decade a variety of perennial bioenergy crops (PECs) have been introduced into European agriculture. This study was designed to investigate the impact of various PECs on earthworm community patterns (species composition, numbers, biomass, α-diversity, life-form categories) at a landscape scale in Western Germany. The PECs investigated were cup plant (CP), tall wheatgrass (TW) and giant knotweed (GK). In total, 4 field replicates of each perennial crop were investigated at 9 study sites with the exception of CP, for which only 3 replicate sites were available. PECs were compared with silage maize as an annual bioenergy crop (AEC) and permanent grasslands (PGL). The earthworm community of the study area consisted of 13 species in total. Mean species number ranged from 2.7 (AEC) < 2.8 (GK) < 3.8 (TW) < 3.9 (PGL) < 4.2 (CP). Overall, PECs took an intermediate position between AEC and PGL concerning earthworm population data including α-diversity and community structure as indicated by Shannon-Weaver index (H’), species number and Evenness (E). There was a clear and close to significant (p < 0.1) increase in the mean total earthworm number in the range AEC (43.3 ind. m⁻²) – PECs (86.7 ind. m⁻²) – PGL (114.4 ind. m⁻²). Fresh earthworm biomass varied from 21.1 g m⁻² (AEC) to 35.7 g m⁻² (PGL) to 40.1 g m⁻² (PECs), however, this difference was only significant for mean biomass of juveniles. Endogeic species were highly dominant in soils cultivated with PECs. Generalized linear mixed models revealed that soil pH, amounts of soil organic carbon and plant available soil water content were partly significant environmental driving variables for the improvement of the earthworm community in soils cultivated with PECs.

在过去十年中，多种多年生生物能源作物 (PEC) 被引入欧洲农业。本研究旨在调查德国西部景观尺度上各种 PEC 对蚯蚓群落模式（物种组成、数量、生物量、α-多样性、生命形式类别）的影响。研究的 PEC 是杯科植物 (CP)、高麦草 (TW) 和巨型虎杖 (GK)。总共在 9 个研究地点调查了每种多年生作物的 4 个田间重复，除了 CP 外，只有 3 个重复地点可用。将 PEC 与作为一年生生物能源作物 (AEC) 和永久草原 (PGL) 的青贮玉米进行了比较。研究区蚯蚓群落共有13种。平均物种数范围为 2.7 (AEC) < 2.8 (GK) < 3.8 (TW) < 3.9 (PGL) < 4.2 (CP)。总体而言，PEC 在蚯蚓种群数据方面处于 AEC 和 PGL 之间的中间位置，包括 α 多样性和群落结构，如香农-韦弗指数 (H')、物种数量和均匀度 (E) 所示。在 AEC (43.3 ind. m) 范围内，平均蚯蚓总数明显且接近显着 (p < 0.1) 增加^-2 ) – PECs (86.7 ind. m ^-2 ) – PGL (114.4 ind. m ^-2 )。新鲜蚯蚓生物量从 21.1 g m ^-2 (AEC) 到 35.7 g m ^-2  (PGL) 到 40.1 g m ^-2 (PECs) 不等，然而，这种差异仅对幼虫的平均生物量显着。内生物种在用 PECs 栽培的土壤中占优势。广义线性混合模型表明，土壤 pH 值、土壤有机碳含量和植物有效土壤含水量是部分重要的环境驱动变量，可用于改善用 PEC 培养的土壤中的蚯蚓群落。