How fertile are earthworm casts? A meta-analysis

Groenigen, Jan Willem van; Groenigen, Kees Jan van; Koopmans, G.F.; Stokkermans, Lotte; Vos, Hannah M.J.; Lubbers, Ingrid M.

doi:10.1016/j.geoderma.2018.11.001

Cited by 153 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 58 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In accordance with the literature 12,13 , we observed a positive effect of earthworms on shoot biomass whatever the soil (+21%), associated with an increase in height (+5%) and leaf surface area (+11%) in clayed and sandy soils (Tab.1). Beta-diversity analysis of bacterial community profiles revealed a strong soil effect (Supporting File 2 and 3), calling for a refined analysis by soil (Fig.1).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 92%

“…Earthworms may even affect the assembly outcome of rhizosphere microbial communities 11 , but the reciprocal action of plant on drilosphere microbiota has never been investigated. Nevertheless, positive interaction between these two macroorganisms is the rule, as earthworms increase plant growth by ~25% 12,13 . Furthermore, converging observations suggest that part of the mechanics governing plant-earthworm relationships may pass through microbes 14,15 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A core microbiota of the plant-earthworm interaction conserved across soils

Jacquiod

Puga-Freitas

Spor

et al. 2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A core microbiota of the plant-earthworm interaction conserved across soils

Jacquiod

Puga-Freitas

Spor

et al. 2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Firstly, earthworms boost mineralization strongly in arctic soils as verified by their casts that had NH 4 concentration >10,000% higher than the bulk soil ( Supplementary Fig. 3)importantly, this enrichment is one magnitude higher than observed in agricultural ecosystems 41 . Secondly, earthworms facilitate plant use of N from aboveground plant litter as revealed 35 and from an alpine altitudinal gradient 36 , the herbivory experiment was conducted using fences excluding voles and reindeer (shown effects are illustrating when grazers are present in relation to the ungrazed control) 35 and reindeer feces were used in the fertilization experiment, where additions corresponded to about double and four times natural abundance 37 by decreased litter cover and a change in plant-δ 15 N toward the signature of the labeled litter.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

Invasive earthworms unlock arctic plant nitrogen limitation

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Arctic plant growth is predominantly nitrogen (N) limited. This limitation is generally attributed to slow soil microbial processes due to low temperatures. Here, we show that arctic plant-soil N cycling is also substantially constrained by the lack of larger detritivores (earthworms) able to mineralize and physically translocate litter and soil organic matter. These new functions provided by earthworms increased shrub and grass N concentration in our common garden experiment. Earthworm activity also increased either the height or number of floral shoots, while enhancing fine root production and vegetation greenness in heath and meadow communities to a level that exceeded the inherent differences between these two common arctic plant communities. Moreover, these worming effects on plant N and greening exceeded reported effects of warming, herbivory and nutrient addition, suggesting that human spreading of earthworms may lead to substantial changes in the structure and function of arctic ecosystems.

show abstract

“…As a biodiversity component, earthworms accomplish important roles for soil ecosystems and global ecosystems, the widely known being the increasing of soil fertility, the improvement of soil physical-chemical properties, and the waste management (through vermicompostation process) [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. These organisms are worldwide spread, being found, excepting few zones, in almost all parts of the planet.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Earthworms Diversity (Oligochaeta: Lumbricidae) and Casting Chemical Composition in an Urban Park from Western Romania

Iordache¹,

Tudor²,

Brei³

2020

Pol. J. Environ. Stud.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper aimed to establish the species diversity of earthworms (Oligochaeta: Lumbricidae) and the chemical composition of earthworm surface castings within an urban park from west side of Romania (Timişoara City): Plevnei Park (45°44'58''N, 21°13'38''E). Eight lumbricid earthworm species have been identified: Lumbricus terrestris, Aporrectodea rosea, Aporrectodea longa, Aporrectodea caliginosa, Allolobophora chlorotica, Dendrobaena veneta, Dendrobaena octaedra, Dendrodrilus rubidus. Based on species incidence, several ecological indicators have been calculated: the constancy of earthworm species in the sampling areas, the Sørensen similarity of sampling points as species composition, and the Jaccard similarity (coenotic affinity) of the earthworm species within the sampled points. The surface castings have been analyzed for the following physical-chemical parameters: pH, total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (N), plant available phosphorus (P), plant available potassium (K), and calcium water soluble (Ca). Because it is not yet clearly elucidated the casting behavior (surface or subsurface) of earthworms, and their feeding behavior, habitat behavior and casting behavior are not always clearly separated traits, and because until now it is insufficiently known how the environmental conditions affect the surface or subsurface casts production in earthworms, or how these conditions determine more than a single casting behavior for one species, there had been difficult to conclude which of the found species is responsible for the surface casting within the studied urban park. To find possible correlations existing between the physical-chemical parameters of the earthworm castings, Pearson, Spearman, and Kendall correlations (p<0.05) were calculated. The study revealed significant

show abstract

How fertile are earthworm casts? A meta-analysis

Cited by 153 publications

References 58 publications

A core microbiota of the plant-earthworm interaction conserved across soils

A core microbiota of the plant-earthworm interaction conserved across soils

Invasive earthworms unlock arctic plant nitrogen limitation

Earthworms Diversity (Oligochaeta: Lumbricidae) and Casting Chemical Composition in an Urban Park from Western Romania

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About