Mass migration of earthworms in Mawlyngot area, East Khasi Hills, Meghalaya

Authors

  • Ilona Jacinta Kharkongor
     North Eastern Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Shillong – 793003, Meghalaya
  • Bhaskar Saikia
     North Eastern Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Shillong – 793003, Meghalaya

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26515/rzsi/v120/i4/2020/131102

Keywords:

Mawkynrew Block, North-East India, Perionyx macintoshi, Uphill Migration.

Abstract

This paper documents the mass migration of the earthworm, Perionyx macintoshi that occurs annually in Mawlyngot area in Meghalaya, North-East India. Multiple field trips were conducted to this place for four years from 2011-2015 to study this phenomenon. Following field observations, the authors have made an attempt to explain the when’, the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ of this migration.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Ilona Jacinta Kharkongor, North Eastern Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Shillong – 793003, Meghalaya

Serving as Scientist - D in ZSI, Shillong. Taxonomic group of primary interest: Amphibia. Also working on taxonomy of Lepidoptera (Rhopalocera) and Mollusca of North-East India.

Bhaskar Saikia, North Eastern Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Shillong – 793003, Meghalaya

Serving as Senior Zoological Assistant in ZSI Shillong

Downloads

Published

2021-02-17

How to Cite

Kharkongor, I. J., & Saikia, B. (2021). Mass migration of earthworms in Mawlyngot area, East Khasi Hills, Meghalaya. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, 120(4), 479–486. https://doi.org/10.26515/rzsi/v120/i4/2020/131102

Issue

Volume 120, Issue 4, 2020

Section

Articles
Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC

References

Bowlin, M.S., Bisson, I.A, Shamoun-Baranes, J., Reichard, J.D., Sapir, N., Marra, P.P., Kunz, T.H., Wilcove, D.S., Hedenström, A., Guglielmo, C.G. Kesson, S.A., Ramenofsky, M. and Wikelski, M. 2010. Grand challenges in migration biology. Integ. Comp. Biol., 50(3): 261-279. https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icq013. PMid:21558203 PMCid:PMC7108598

Dingle, H. and Drake, V.A. 2007. What is migration? Bioscience, 57: 113-121. https://doi.org/10.1641/B570206

Gates G.E. 1952. On some Earthworms from Burma. Am. Mus. Nov., 1555: 1-13.

Gates G.E. 1972. Burmese Earthworms: An introduction to the systematics and biology of Megadrile oligochaetes with Special Reference to Southeast Asia. Trans. Am. Phil. Soc., 62(7): 10. https://doi.org/10.2307/1006214.

Gwinner, E. 1996. Circadian and circannual programmes in avian migration. J. Exp. Biol., 199: 39-48.

Jachowski, D.S. and Singh, N.J. 2015. Towards a mechanistic understanding of animal migration: incorporating physiological measurements in the study of moving animals. Conserv. Physiol., 3(1). https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/cov035. PMid:27293720 PMCid: PMC4778435

Julka, J.M., Chandra, M. and Mukherjee, R.N. 1984. Mass migration of earthworms in the Simla Hills. In, High Altitude Entomology and Wildlife Ecology. Zool. Surv. India, Calcutta: 347-352.

Kimchi, T., Etienne, A.S. and Terkel, J. 2004.A subterranean mammal uses the magnetic compass for path integration. PNAS, 101(4): 1105-1109. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0307560100. PMid: 14732687. PMCid: PMC327158.

Lee, K.E. 1985. Earthworms, Their Ecology and Relationships with Soils and Land Use. Academic Press, Australia: 1 - 411, i-xvii.

Lennox, R.J., Chapman, J.M., Souliere, C.M., Tudorache, C., Wikelski, M., Metcalfe, J.D. and Cooke, S.J. 2016. Conservation physiology of animal migration. Conserv. Physiol., 4: 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/cov072. PMid: 27293751. PMCid: PMC4772791.

Reddy, M.V. 1980. Mass Migration and Mortality of Amynthas (=Pheretima) alexandri (Beddard) (Megascoledidae: Oligochaeta). Curr. Sci., 49(15): 606.

Šustr, V. and Pižl, V. 2010. Temperature dependence and ontogenetic changes of metabolic rate of an endemic earthworm Dendrobaenam rezeki. Biologia, 65(2): 289-293. https://doi.org/10.2478/s11756-010-0019-5

Vidal-Gadea, A., Ward, K., Beron, C., Ghorashian, N., Gokce, S., Russell, J., Truong, N., Parikh, A., Gadea, O., Ben-Yakar, A., Pierce Shimomura, J. 2015. Magnetosensitive neurons mediate geomagnetic orientation in Caenorhabditis elegans. eLife Science, 4: e07493. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.07493. PMid: 26083711. PMCid: PMC4525075.

Winkler, D.W., Jørgensen, C., Both, C., Houston, A.I., McNamara, J.M, Levey, D.J., Partecke, J., Fudickar, A, Kacelnik, A., Roshier, D and Piersma, T. 2014. Cues, strategies, and outcomes: how migrating vertebrates track environmental change. Movement Ecol., 2(10): 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1186/2051-3933-2-10

Zirbis, L., Deneubourg, J-L, Brostaux, Y. and Haubruge, E. 2010. A new case of consensual decision: collective movement in earthworms. Ethology, 116(6): 546-553. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.2010.01768.x

Most read articles by the same author(s)

1 2 > >>