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The role of earthworm communities in soil mineral weathering: a field experiment

¹ Department of Soil Science, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 6DW, UK
² Department of Entomology, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK
³ Chemistry Department, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 3TU, UK

^* E-mail: daniel.carpenter@reading.ac.uk

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

Introduction

MINERALS are an important component of the soil environment (Dixon et al., 1977). They provide a structural framework which supports plants and contribute to the physical heterogeneity of soil. Minerals also contribute to the fertility of soils. Primary minerals are a source of essential plant nutrients (Harley and Gilkes, 2000). Clay minerals impact on the water-holding capacity of soils, affect the cation exchange capacity of soils (Brown, 1977) and are able to sequester nutrients and contaminants within the soil (Dubbin, 2001).

Mineral weathering is an important process in soils and releases nutrients from the mineral structure into a form available for uptake by plants (Harley and Gilkes, 2000). Mineral weathering also increases the number of cation exchange sites, which increases the fertility of soils by improving nutrient retention. The weathering of clay minerals and the expansion of clay layers increases the water-holding capacity of soils (Brown, 1977). Mineral weathering also contributes to the pedological development of soils. Pedologically old soils are highly weathered and have a large proportion of clay minerals and a small proportion of primary minerals (Dubbin, 2001). Highly weathered soils, such as those found in the tropics, tend to be less fertile than less weathered soils (Dubbin, 2001).

Earthworms are an important component of the soil ecosystem and have been described as ecosystem engineers because of the major role they play in modifying the soil ecosystem (Lavelle et al., 1997). They play a key role in modifying the physical structure of soils by creating aggregates (Haynes and Fraser, 1998), creating pores which increases infiltration and drainage (Lamande et al., 2003) and contributing to the development of soil horizons by the transport . . . [Full Text of this Article]