**2.5 Moisture**

Prevention of water loss is a major factor in earthworm survival as water constitutes 75-90% of the body weight of earthworms (Grant, 1955). However, they have considerable ability to survive adverse moisture conditions, either by moving to a region with more moisture (Valle *et al.,* 1997) or by means of aestivation (Baker *et al.,* 1992). Availability of soil moisture determines earthworm activity as earthworm species have different moisture requirements in different regions of the world. Soil moisture also influences the number and biomass of earthworms (Wood, 1974).
