1. Introduction
The soil contains an important reservoir of carbon (C) and any significant change in soil C will impact on soil function and represents a greenhouse gas mitigation issue. Soil C loss has been recorded from some pastoral soils in New Zealand and the UK [1] and [2]. In pastoral systems, C is deposited onto the soil surface through plant senescence and dung return, as well as root senescence providing a source of C directly into the soil [3]. One of the primary roles that earthworms play in decomposition is the incorporation of the surface C into the soil profile [4], otherwise it remains vulnerable to mineralisation and loss to the atmosphere [5].
Several functional groups of earthworms are recognised [6]. Both epigeic and anecic earthworms feed on the C at the soil surface, with the smaller, surface active epigeic earthworms processing about 20 g dung annually, and the larger, anecic earthworms processing about 40 g dung annually [4]. Some 80% of this intake is excreted in casts and returned both onto the soil surface and within the soil profile [7]. It is the anecic earthworms, by moving C to greater depths in the soil where it may be less susceptible to being lost, that may be particularly beneficial to C storage [8]. While earthworms may stimulate incorporation of organic matter, several studies have also reported that the presence of earthworms increases CO2 emissions from the soil [9], [10] and [11], and hence their influence on the net C stored in the soil over long time periods is still not fully quantified.
New Zealand pastures contain a mix of exotic earthworms which arrived accidentally with the first European settlers, improving pasture production [12]. Schon et al. [13] estimated that up to 6.5 million ha of pastures lacked anecic earthworms. As earthworms spread slowly across the landscape, the opportunity exists to investigate the rate of spread of anecic Aporrectodea longa as well as their influence on soil C storage more than two decades after their deliberate introduction. We hypothesise that soil C will be greater with depth in the presence of anecic earthworms leading to a potential mitigation option for increasing soil C where this earthworm group is absent.
1. IntroductionThe soil contains an important reservoir of carbon (C) and any significant change in soil C will impact on soil function and represents a greenhouse gas mitigation issue. Soil C loss has been recorded from some pastoral soils in New Zealand and the UK [1] and [2]. In pastoral systems, C is deposited onto the soil surface through plant senescence and dung return, as well as root senescence providing a source of C directly into the soil [3]. One of the primary roles that earthworms play in decomposition is the incorporation of the surface C into the soil profile [4], otherwise it remains vulnerable to mineralisation and loss to the atmosphere [5].Several functional groups of earthworms are recognised [6]. Both epigeic and anecic earthworms feed on the C at the soil surface, with the smaller, surface active epigeic earthworms processing about 20 g dung annually, and the larger, anecic earthworms processing about 40 g dung annually [4]. Some 80% of this intake is excreted in casts and returned both onto the soil surface and within the soil profile [7]. It is the anecic earthworms, by moving C to greater depths in the soil where it may be less susceptible to being lost, that may be particularly beneficial to C storage [8]. While earthworms may stimulate incorporation of organic matter, several studies have also reported that the presence of earthworms increases CO2 emissions from the soil [9], [10] and [11], and hence their influence on the net C stored in the soil over long time periods is still not fully quantified.New Zealand pastures contain a mix of exotic earthworms which arrived accidentally with the first European settlers, improving pasture production [12]. Schon et al. [13] estimated that up to 6.5 million ha of pastures lacked anecic earthworms. As earthworms spread slowly across the landscape, the opportunity exists to investigate the rate of spread of anecic Aporrectodea longa as well as their influence on soil C storage more than two decades after their deliberate introduction. We hypothesise that soil C will be greater with depth in the presence of anecic earthworms leading to a potential mitigation option for increasing soil C where this earthworm group is absent.
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