Earthworm populations were generally favoured by
the experimental conditions. Indeed, earthworm abundance
gradually increased during the study (Fig. 1a)
due to cocoon deposition and hatching of juveniles,
while adult earthworm numbers remained constant
throughout the 16 week period. Overall mortality of
the introduced adult earthworms was very low (< 5%).
Given the high earthworm reproduction and the low
initial organic C content of the soil (2.61 %), it is not
surprising that the total earthworm biomass declined