Earthworms are an important soil taxon as ecosystem engineers, providing a variety of crucial ecosystem functions and services. Little is known about their diversity and distribution at large spatial scales, despite the availability of considerable amounts of local-scale data. Earthworm diversity data, obtained from the primary literature or provided directly by authors, were collated with information on site locations, including coordinates, habitat cover, and soil properties. Datasets were required, at a minimum, to include abundance or biomass of earthworms at a site. Where possible, site-level species lists were included, as well as the abundance and biomass of individual species and ecological groups. This global dataset contains 10,840 sites, with 184 species, from 60 countries and all continents except Antarctica. The data were obtained from 182 published articles, published between 1973 and 2017, and 17 unpublished datasets. Amalgamating data into a single global database will assist researchers in investigating and answering a wide variety of pressing questions, for example, jointly assessing aboveground and belowground biodiversity distributions and drivers of biodiversity change.

A N Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution Russian Academy of Sciences Leninsky pr 33 Moscow 119071 Russia

Adaptations du Vivant CNRS UMR 7179 Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle 4 Avenue du Petit Château Brunoy France

Agricultura Sociedad y Ambiente El Colegio de la Frontera Sur Av Polígono s n Cd Industrial Lerma Campeche Campeche Mexico

Agriculture engineering Agroecology Postgraduate Program Maranhão State University Avenida Lourenço Vieira da Silva 1000 São Luis Brazil

Animal Biodiversity and Evolution Institute of Evolutionary Biology Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37 Barcelona Spain

Animal Ecology Justus Liebig University Heinrich Buff Ring 26 Giessen Germany

Asian School of the Environment Nanyang Technological University Singapore 639798 Singapore

Biodiversity and Systematic Network Institute of Ecology A C El Haya Xalapa Veracruz 91070 Mexico

Biodiversity Ecology and Evolution Faculty of Biology University Complutense of Madrid José Antonio Novais 12 Madrid Spain

Biology Biodiversity and Conservation Postgraduate Program Federal University of Maranhão Avenida dos Portugueses 1966 São Luis Brazil

Biometry and Environmental System Analysis University of Freiburg Tennenbacher Str 4 79106 Freiburg Germany

CEFE Univ Montpellier CNRS EPHE IRD Univ Paul Valéry Montpellier 3 Montpellier France

Center for Forest Ecology and Productivity RAS Profsoyuznaya st 84 32 bldg 14 Moscow Russia

Center of Excellence in Environmental Studies King Abdulaziz University P O Box 80216 Jeddah 21589 Saudi Arabia

Center of Functional Ecology Department of Life Sciences University of Coimbra Calçada Martins de Freitas 3000 456 Coimbra Portugal

Centre for Applied Water Science Institute for Applied Ecology Faculty of Science and Technology University of Canberra Canberra Australia

Centre for Biodiversity Theory and Modelling Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station CNRS 09200 Moulis France

Centre of Biodiversity and Sustainable Landuse University of Göttingen Büsgenweg 1 Göttingen Germany

College of Agriculture Environmental and Human Sciences Lincoln University of Missouri Jefferson City MO 65101 USA

College of Natural Resources University of Wisconsin Stevens Point WI 54481 USA

Conservación de la Biodiversidad El Colegio de la Frontera Sur Av Rancho poligono 2 A Cd Industrial de Lerma Campeche Mexico

CSIRO Ocean and Atmosphere CSIRO New Illawarra Road Lucas Heights NSW Australia

Departamento de Ciencias Básicas Instituto de Ecología y Desarrollo Sustentable Universidad Nacional de Luján Av Constitución y Ruta 5 Luján Argentina

Departamento de Ciencias Básicas Universidad Nacional de Luján Argentina INEDES Luján Argentina

Departamento de Ecología y Biología Animal Universidad de Vigo 36310 Vigo Spain

Départment de biologie Université de Sherbrooke Sherbrooke Québec Canada

Department Engineering for Crop Production Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy Max Eyth Allee 100 Potsdam Germany

Department of animal biology edaphology and geology Faculty of Sciences University of La Laguna La Laguna Santa Cruz De Tenerife Spain

Department of Animal Science Santa Catarina State University Chapecó SC 89815 630 Brazil

Department of Biological Geological and Environmental Sciences University of Catania Via Androne 81 95124 Catania Italy

Department of Biological Science Northern Kentucky University 1 Nunn Drive Highland Heights KY USA

Department of Biological Sciences and Environmental Studies University of the Philippines Mindanao Tugbok District Davao Philippines

Department of Biological Sciencies SUNY Cortland 1215 Bowers Hall Cortland USA

Department of Biology Colorado State University 200 West Lake Street Fort Collins CO USA

Department of Biology Colorado State University Fort Collins CO 80523 USA

Department of Biology University of Osijek Cara Hadrijana 8 A Osijek Croatia

Department of Bioscience Aarhus University Vejlsøvej 25 Aarhus Denmark

Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences Division of Forest Nature and Landscape KU Leuven Celestijnenlaan 200E Box 2411 Leuven Belgium

Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences Johns Hopkins University 3400 N Charles Street Baltimore USA

Department of Ecology and Ecosystem Management Technical University of Munich Emil Ramann Str 2 85354 Freising Germany

Department of Ecology Brandenburg University of Technology Konrad Wachsmann Allee 6 Cottbus Germany

Department of Ecology University of Innsbruck Technikerstrasse 25 Innsbruck Austria

Department of Entomology Cornell University 3132 Comstock Hall Ithaca NY USA

Department of Environment Faculty of Natural Sciences Matej Bel University Tajovského 40 Banská Bystrica Slovakia

Department of Environmental Science Saint Mary's University Halifax Nova Scotia Canada

Department of Environmental Systems Science Faculty of Science and Engineering Doshisha University Kyoto 602 8580 Japan

Department of Forest Ecology and Management Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Skogsmarksgrand 17 901 83 Umeå Sweden

Department of Forest Ecology Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Kamýcká 129 Prague Czech Republic

Department of Forest Resources University of Minnesota 1530 Cleveland Ave N St Paul USA

Department of Jobs Precincts and Regions Agriculture Victoria Chiltern Valley Road Rutherglen Australia

Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management Oklahoma State University 008C Ag Hall Stillwater USA

Department of Soil and Crop Sciences Colorado State University 1170 Campus Delivery Fort Collins CO USA

Department of Soil and Water Systems University of Idaho 875 Perimeter Drive MS 2340 Moscow USA

Department of Soil Science University of Trier Campus 2 Behringstraße 21 Trier Germany

Department of Soil Water and Climate University of Minnesota 1991 Upper Buford Circle St Paul USA

Department of Terrestrial Ecology Netherlands Institute of Ecology 6700 Wageningen AB The Netherlands

Department of Zoology Khalsa College Amritsar Amritsar Punjab India

Department of Zoology Pachhunga University College Aizawl Mizoram India

Department of Zoology PSMO College Tirurangadi Malappuram Kerala India Malappuram India

Dept of Biological and Environmental Sciences University of Jyväskylä Box 35 Jyväskylä Finland

Dpto Ciencias IS FOOD Universidad Pública de Navarra Edificio Olivos Campus Arrosadia Pamplona Spain

Earth Innovation Institute 98 Battery Street Suite 250 San Francisco USA

Earth Institute University College Dublin Belfield Dublin 4 Ireland

Eco and Sols Univ Montpellier IRD INRAE CIRAD Institut Agro Montpellier France

Ecologia Aplicada Instituto de Zoologia y Ecologia Tropical Universidad Central de Venezuela Los Chaguaramos Ciudad Universitaria Caracas Venezuela

ECT Oekotoxikologie GmbH Boettgerstr 2 14 Floersheim Germany

Embrapa Forestry Estrada da Ribeira km 111 C P 231 Colombo PR 83411 000 Brazil

EMMAH UMR 1114 INRA Site Agroparc Avignon France

European Commission Joint Research Centre Ispra Italy

Experimental Infrastructure Platform Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research Eberswalder Str 84 Müncheberg Germany

Faculty of Agriculture Kyushu University 394 Tsubakuro Sasaguri Fukuoka 811 2415 Japan

Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences Post Office Box 65 FI 00014 University of Helsinki Helsinki Finland

Faculty of Food and Agricultural Sciences Fukushima University Kanayagawa 1 Fukushima Japan

Faculty of Forestry University of Toronto 33 Willcocks Street Toronto Canada

Faculty of Natural Resources and Marine Sciences Tarbiat Modares University 46417 76489 Noor Mazandaran Iran

Forest Ecology and Restoration Group Department of Life Sciences University of Alcalá 28805 Alcalá De Henares Spain

Forest Science Kochi University Monobe Otsu 200 Nankoku Japan

Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology University of Göttingen Büsgenweg 1 Göttingen Germany

Friends of the Mississippi River 101 E 5th St Suite 2000 St Paul USA

Geology Department FCEFQyN ICBIA CONICET National University of Rio Cuarto Ruta 36 Km 601 Río Cuarto Argentina

German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research Halle Jena Leipzig Puschstrasse 4 04103 Leipzig Germany

Global Change Ecology and Evolution Research Group Department of Life Sciences University of Alcalá 28805 Alcalá De Henares Spain

Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative and School of Global Environmental Sustainability Colorado State University Fort Collins CO 80523 USA

Health and Biosecurity CSIRO PO Box 1700 Canberra Australia

INRA IRD Institut d'Ecologie et des Sciences de l'Environnement de Paris F 75005 Paris France

Institute for Agro Environmental Sciences National Agriculture and Food Research Organization 3 1 3 Kan nondai Tsukuba Ibaraki Japan

Institute for Alpine Environment Eurac Research Viale Druso 1 Bozen Bolzano Italy

Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics University of Amsterdam Amsterdam The Netherlands

Institute for Ecosystem Research University of Kiel Olshausenstrasse 40 24098 Kiel Germany

Institute of Biodiversity Friedrich Schiller University Jena Dornburger Str 159 07743 Jena Germany

Institute of Biological Environmental and Rural Sciences Aberystwyth Universtiy Plas Gogerddan Aberystwyth SY24 3EE United Kingdom

Institute of Biology Freie Universität Berlin 14195 Berlin Germany

Institute of Biology Leipzig University Puschstrasse 4 04103 Leipzig Germany

Institute of Biology Martin Luther University Halle Wittenberg Am Kirchtor 1 06108 Halle Germany

Institute of Computer Science Friedrich Schiller University Jena Ernst Abbe Platz 2 07743 Jena Germany

Institute of Environmental Sciences Jagiellonian University Gronostajowa 7 Kraków Poland

Institute of Qinghai Tibetan Plateau Southwest Minzu University Chengdu China

Juárez Autonomous University of Tabasco Nanotechnology Engineering Multidisciplinary Academic Division of Jalpa de Méndez Carr Estatal libre Villahermosa Comalcalco Km 27 S N C P 86205 Jalpa de Méndez Tabasco Mexico

Key Laboratory of Geospatial Technology for the Middle and Lower Yellow River Regions Ministry of Education College of Environment and Planning Henan University Kaifeng China

Laboratoire Écologie et Biologie des Interactions équipe EES UMR CNRS 7267 Université de Poitiers 5 rue Albert Turpain Poitiers France

Laboratory of Computational Ecology Institute of Mathematical Problems of Biology RAS the Branch of Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vitkevicha str 1 Pushchino Russia

Laboratory of Ecosystem Modelling Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems in Soil Science of the Russian Academy of Sciences Institutskaya str 2 Pushchino Russia

Laboratory of Environmental Toxicology and Aquatic Ecology Environmental Toxicology Unit GhEnToxLab Ghent University Campus Coupure Coupure Links 653 Ghent Belgium

Laboratory of Nematology Wageningen University PO Box 8123 6700 Wageningen ES The Netherlands

Laboratory of terrestrial ecosystems Federal Research Centre Kola Science Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of North Industrial Ecology Problems Akademgorodok 14a Apatity Murmansk Province Russia

Land Resource Management and Agricultural Technology University of Nairobi Kapenguria Road Off Naivasha Road P O Box 29053 Nairobi Kenya

Land Use and Governance Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research Eberswalder Str 84 Müncheberg Germany

Landscape Ecology and Environmental Systems Analysis Institute of Geoecology Technische Universität Braunschweig Langer Kamp 19c Braunschweig Germany

Louis Bolk Institute Kosterijland 3 5 Bunnik The Netherlands

M 5 Lomonosov Moscow State University Leninskie Gory 1 Moscow 119991 Russia

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency 520 Lafayette Road St Paul MN USA

Natural Area Consultants 1 West Hill School Road Richford NY USA

Natural Resource Sciences McGill University 21111 Lakeshore Road Ste Anne de Bellevue Canada

Natural Resources and Environmental Management University of Hawaii at Manoa 1910 East West Rd Honolulu USA

Natural Resources Cornell University Ithaca NY USA

Odum School of Ecology University of Georgia 140 E Green Street Athens USA

Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens Pittsburgh PA 15213 USA

Plant Biology Ecology and Earth Science INDEHESA University of Extremadura Plasencia Spain

Production Systems Natural Resources Institute Finland Survontie 9 A Jyväskylä Finland

Razi University Kermanshah Iran

Research Institute for Nature and Forest Gaverstraat 35 9500 Geraardsbergen Belgium

Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture KG 541 Kigali Rwanda

SAS INRAE Institut Agro 35042 Rennes France

School for Agriculture Food and the Environment Royal Agricultural University Stroud Road Cirencester GL7 6JS United Kingdom

School of Agricultural Forest and Food Sciences Bern University of Applied Sciences Länggasse 85 Zollikofen Switzerland

School of Agriculture and Food Science University College Dublin Agriculture and Food Science Centre Dublin Ireland

School of Biology and Environmental Science University College Dublin Belfield Dublin Ireland

School of Forest Resources and Conservation University of Florida Gainesville USA

Senckenberg Museum for Natural History Görlitz Department of Soil Zoology 02826 Görlitz Germany

Silviculture and Forest Ecology of the Temperate Zones University of Göttingen Büsgenweg 1 Göttingen Germany

Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology 30 1 Bolshoy Boulevard Moscow 121205 Russia

Soil Ecosystems Natural Resources Institute Finland Tietotie 4 Jokioinen Finland

Soil Physics and Land Management Group Wageningen University and Research Droevendaalsteeg 4 Wageningen The Netherlands

Sorbonne Université Institut d'Ecologie et des Sciences de l'Environnement 75005 Paris France

Sorbonne Université Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences of Paris 4 place Jussieu 75000 Paris France

Sustainable Development and Environmental Engineering University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Banat King Michael the 1st of Romania from Timisoara Calea Aradului 119 Timisoara Romania

Tartu College Tallinn University of Technology Puiestee 78 Tartu Estonia

Tembotov Institute of Ecology of Mountain Territories Russian Academy of Sciences 1 Armand 37a Nalchik Russia

The Morton Arboretum 4100 Illinois Route 53 Lisle IL 60532 USA

The Nature Conservancy 4245 Fairfax Drive Arlington USA

The School of Agriculture Food and Wine The Waite Research Institute The University of Adelaide PMB 1 Glen Osmond Australia

Thuenen Institute of Biodiversity Bundesallee 65 Braunschweig Germany

Thuenen Institute of Organic Farming Trenthorst 32 Westerau Germany

Tochigi Prefectural Museum 2 2 Mutsumi cho Utsunomiya Japan

Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources University of Hawai'i at Manoa 3190 Maile Way St John 102 Honolulu USA

UCD Earth Institute University College Dublin Dublin Ireland

UFR Sciences de la Nature UR Gestion Durable des Sols Université Nangui Abrogoua Abidjan Côte d'Ivoire

UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology Library Avenue Bailrigg Lancaster United Kingdom

UMR ECOBIO CNRS Université de Rennes Station Biologique 35380 Paimpont France

UMR SAS INRAE Institut Agro Agrocampus Ouest 35000 Rennes France

UMR7144 Adaptation et Diversité en Milieu Marin Station Biologique de Roscoff CNRS Sorbonne Université Place Georges Teissier Roscoff France

Unit Food and Agriculture WWF Netherlands Driebergseweg 10 Zeist The Netherlands

United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service International Institute of Tropical Forestry 1201 Ceiba Street San Juan Puerto Rico

Universidade Positivo Rua Prof Pedro Viriato Parigot de Souza 5300 Curitiba PR 81280 330 Brazil

University of California Davis 1 Shields Avenue Davis USA

UPR Systèmes de Pérennes CIRAD Univ Montpellier TA B 34 02 Avenue Agropolis Montpellier France

Yale School of the Environment Yale University 370 Prospect St New Haven CT USA

See more in PubMed

Giller PS. The diversity of soil communities, the poor man’s tropical rainforest? Biodivers. Conserv. 1996;5:135–168. doi: 10.1007/BF00055827. DOI

Decaëns T, Jiménez JJ, Gioia C, Measey GJ, Lavelle P. The values of soil animals for conservation biology. Eur. J. Soil Biol. 2006;42:S23–S38. doi: 10.1016/j.ejsobi.2006.07.001. DOI

Bardgett RD, van der Putten WH. Belowground biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Nat. 2014;515 505:505–511. doi: 10.1038/nature13855. PubMed DOI

Phillips HRP, et al. Red list of a black box. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 2017;1:0103. doi: 10.1038/s41559-017-0103. PubMed DOI PMC

Orgiazzi, A. et al. Global Soil Biodiversity Atlas. European Commission, Publications (2016).

Dornelas M, et al. BioTIME: A database of biodiversity time series for the Anthropocene. Glob. Ecol. Biogeogr. 2018;27:760–786. doi: 10.1111/geb.12729. PubMed DOI PMC

Hudson LN, et al. The database of the PREDICTS (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems) project. Ecol. Evol. 2017;7:145–188. doi: 10.1002/ece3.2579. PubMed DOI PMC

Dornelas M, et al. Assemblage time series reveal biodiversity change but not systematic loss. Science. 2014;344:296–299. doi: 10.1126/science.1248484. PubMed DOI

Newbold T, et al. Global effects of land use on local terrestrial biodiversity. Nature. 2015;520:45–50. doi: 10.1038/nature14324. PubMed DOI

Ramirez KS, et al. Detecting macroecological patterns in bacterial communities across independent studies of global soils. Nat. Microbiol. 2018;3:189–196. doi: 10.1038/s41564-017-0062-x. PubMed DOI

Delgado-Baquerizo M, et al. A global atlas of the dominant bacteria found in soil. Science. 2018;359:320–325. doi: 10.1126/science.aap9516. PubMed DOI

Milcu A, Partsch S, Scherber C, Weisser WW, Scheu S. Earthworms and legumes control litter decomposition in a plant diversity gradient. Ecology. 2008;89:1872–1882. doi: 10.1890/07-1377.1. PubMed DOI

Blouin M, et al. A review of earthworm impact on soil function and ecosystem services. Eur. J. Soil Sci. 2013;64:161–182. doi: 10.1111/ejss.12025. DOI

Zhang W, et al. Earthworms facilitate carbon sequestration through unequal amplification of carbon stabilization compared with mineralization. Nat. Commun. 2013;4:2576. doi: 10.1038/ncomms3576. PubMed DOI

Paoletti MG. The role of earthworms for assessment of sustainability and as bioindicators. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 1999;74:137–155. doi: 10.1016/S0167-8809(99)00034-1. DOI

Phillips HRP, et al. Global distribution of earthworm diversity. Science. 2019;366:480–485. doi: 10.1126/science.aax4851. PubMed DOI PMC

Rutgers M, et al. Mapping earthworm communities in Europe. Appl. Soil Ecol. 2016;97:98–111. doi: 10.1016/j.apsoil.2015.08.015. DOI

Burkhardt U, et al. The Edaphobase project of GBIF-Germany-A new online soil-zoological data warehouse. Appl. Soil Ecol. 2014;83:3–12. doi: 10.1016/j.apsoil.2014.03.021. DOI

Phillips HRP, 2020. Global data on earthworm abundance, biomass, diversity and corresponding environmental properties. (iDiv Data Repository) German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig. PubMed DOI

Bouché, M. B. Strategies lombriciennes. Ecol. Bull. 122–132 (1977).

IPBES. Summary for policymakers of the global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. 56 (2019).

Pey B, et al. Current use of and future needs for soil invertebrate functional traits in community ecology. Basic Appl. Ecol. 2014;15:194–206. doi: 10.1016/j.baae.2014.03.007. DOI

Cameron, E. K. et al. Global mismatches in aboveground and belowground biodiversity. Conserv. Biol. 430 (2019) PubMed

Anderson, J. M. & Ingram, J. S. I. Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility: A handbook of methods. Trop. Soil Biol. Fertil. A Handb. methods 2 Ed., 88–91 (1993).

ISO. Soil quality – Sampling of soil invertebrates – Part 1: Hand-sorting and extraction of earthworms (ISO/FDIS 23611-1:2012). (2012).

USDA. Soil Survey Manual Agriculture. Handbook 18. USDA, Nat. Resour. Conserv. Serv. (2017)

FAO/WRB. World reference base for soil resources 2014. World Soil Resources Reports No. 106 (2014).

Schindelin J, et al. Fiji: an open-source platform for biological-image analysis. Nat. Methods. 2012;9:676–682. doi: 10.1038/nmeth.2019. PubMed DOI PMC

Bartlett MD, et al. A critical review of current methods in earthworm ecology: From individuals to populations. Eur. J. Soil Biol. 2010;46:67–73. doi: 10.1016/j.ejsobi.2009.11.006. DOI

Hoskins AJ, et al. Downscaling land-use data to provide global 30” estimates of five land-use classes. Ecol. Evol. 2016;6:3040–3055. doi: 10.1002/ece3.2104. PubMed DOI PMC

Hurtt GC, et al. Harmonization of land-use scenarios for the period 1500–2100: 600 years of global gridded annual land-use transitions, wood harvest, and resulting secondary lands. Clim. Change. 2011;109:117–161. doi: 10.1007/s10584-011-0153-2. DOI

Magurran, A. E. Measuring biological diversity. (John Wiley & Sons, 2004).

R Core Team. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. (2016).

Sims RW, Gerard BM. Earthworms. Keys and notes for the identification and study of the species. New Zeal. J. Zool. 1988;15:447–448. doi: 10.1080/03014223.1988.10422974. DOI

Gonzalez A, et al. Estimating local biodiversity change: a critique of papers claiming no net loss of local diversity. Ecology. 2016;97:1949–1960. doi: 10.1890/15-1759.1. PubMed DOI

Cameron EK, et al. Global gaps in soil biodiversity data. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 2018;2:1042–1043. doi: 10.1038/s41559-018-0573-8. PubMed DOI PMC

Global fine-resolution data on springtail abundance and community structure

Earthworms as catalysts in the formation and stabilization of soil microbial necromass