Earthworms affect reactive surface area and thereby phosphate solubility in iron-(hydr)oxide dominated soils

Struvite and biodiversity to improve phosphorus use in agricultural fields

“…Another relevant group of soil biota that can affect P availability is earthworms. Earthworm presence can increase in soil P availability through mineralisation of organic P source and desorption of mineral P source in relation to their effect on the soil pH and reactive surface area (Le Bayon and Milleret, 2009;Vos et al, 2022a), but this is highly context and speciesdependent. Earthworms are commonly categorized into three distinct groups reflecting their feeding guilds: epigeic species, eating and leaving in the litter at the soil surface; endogeic, geophagic species living buried in the soil; and anecic species, leaving in deep permanent galleries but feeding on the surface litter (Bouché, 1977;Örley, 1885).…”