Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T19:50:00.403Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Use of Radiocarbon to Measure the Effects of Earthworms On Soil Development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

J D Stout  and
K M Goh
J D Stout
Affiliation:
Soil Bureau, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Lower Hutt, New Zealand
K M Goh
Affiliation:
Lincoln College, Canterbury, New Zealand
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Δ14C and δ13C values for organic matter in forest and grassland soils, in the presence or absence of earthworms, indicate that it should be possible to quantify the effects of earthworms on soil organic matter by this means. Without earthworms, both in forest and grassland soils, plant debris tends to accumulate on the surface of the mineral soil and little organic matter is incorporated into or is translocated down the soil profile. Where earthworms are present, there is much more marked incorporation of fresh plant debris in the mineral soil. This is shown especially by the pulse of ‘bomb’ carbon and also by the δ13C values.

Type
Soils and Groundwater
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 22 , Issue 3: Heidelberg , 1980 , pp. 892 - 896
Copyright
Copyright © The American Journal of Science

References

Edwards, C A and Lofty, J R, 1977, Biology of earthworms, 2nd ed: London, Chapman and Hall, p 333.Google Scholar
Lee, K E, 1959, The earthworm fauna of New Zealand: Wellington, New Zealand Dept Sci & Indust Research Bull, v 130, p 486.Google Scholar
Likens, G, Borman, F H, Pierce, R S, Eaton, J S, and Johnson, N M, 1977, Biogeochemistry of a forested ecosystem: New York, Springer Verlag, p 146.10.1007/978-1-4615-9993-7Google Scholar
Nakha, S M and Delibrias, G, 1967, Utilisation du carbonne-14 d'origine thermonucleaire par l'étude de la dynamique du carbonne dans le sol, in Radiocarbon dating and methods of low-level counting: Vienna, I A E A, p 169–176.Google Scholar
O'Brien, B J and Stout, J D, 1978, Movement and turnover of soil organic matter as indicated by carbon isotope measurements: Soil Biol Biochem, v 10, p 309–317.10.1016/0038-0717(78)90028-7Google Scholar
Phillipson, J, Abel, R, Steel, J, and Woodell, S R J, 1978, Earthworm numbers, biomass and respiratory metabolism in a beech woodland — Wytham Woods, Oxford: Oecologia (Berlin), v 33, p 291–309.Google Scholar
Phillipson, J, Putnam, J, Steel, J, and Woodell, S R J, 1975, Litter input, litter decomposition and evolution of carbon dioxide in a beech woodland: Oecologia (Berlin), v 20, p 203–217.10.1007/BF00347473Google Scholar
Rafter, T A and Stout, J D, 1970, Radiocarbon measurements as an index of the rate of turnover of organic matter in forest and grassland ecosystems in New Zealand, in Olsson, I U, ed, Radiocarbon variations and absolute chronology, Nobel symposium, 12th, Proc: Stockholm, Almqvist & Wiksell, p 401–417.Google Scholar
Stout, J D, Tate, K R, and Molloy, L F, 1976, Decomposition processes in New Zealand soils with particular respect to rates and pathways of plant degradation, in The role of terrestrial and aquatic organisms in decomposition processes, in Symposium of the British Ecology Society, 17th: Oxford, Blackwell Sci Pub, p 95–144.Google Scholar
Waters, R A S, 1955, Numbers and weights of earthworms under a highly productive pasture: New Zealand Jour Sci Technol, v A36, p 516–525.Google Scholar
White, G, 1951, The natural history of Selbourne: London, Lutterworth Press, p 308.Google Scholar