respiration and the respiratory quotient (Fig.1d and e). Plants alone
increased the fungi-to-bacteria ratio, although not to a significant
degree (Fig. 1c), and significantly increased soil respiration and the
respiratory quotient (Fig. 1d and e). When plants and earthworms
were both present, the changes in patterns in all variables were
similar to treatment with plants only, with the effects of earthworms
alone on those variables disappearing.
Earthworms decreased soil b-glucosidase activity significantly
when plants were absent, but this effect was not significant when
plants were present (Fig. 2a). Furthermore, earthworms alone did
not affect soil phosphatase activity (Fig. 2b). Plants did not affect
soil b-glucosidase activity, but increased soil phosphatase activity,
regardless of the reduction of earthworms (Fig. 2a and b)