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Exotic earthworm effects on hardwood forest floor, nutrient availability and native plants: a mesocosm study

  • Plant-Animal Interactions - Original Paper
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Abstract

A greenhouse mesocosm experiment, representing earthworm-free North American Acer-dominated forest floor and soil conditions, was used to examine the individual and combined effects of initial invasion by three European earthworm species (Dendrobaena octaedra, Lumbricus rubellus and Lumbricus terrestris) on the forest floor and upper soil horizons, N and P availability, and the mortality and biomass of four native understory plant species (Acer saccharum, Aquilegia canadensis, Aralia racemosa, and Carex pensylvanica). All the three earthworm species combined caused larger impacts on most variables measured than any single earthworm species. These included loss of O horizon mass, decreased thickness of the O horizon and increased thickness of the A horizon, and higher availability of N and P. The latter finding differs from field reports where nutrients were less available after invasion, and probably represents an initial transient increase in nutrient supply as earthworms consume and incorporate the O horizon into the A horizon. Earthworms also increased mortality of plants and decreased total mesocosm plant biomass, but here the impact of all the three earthworm species was no greater than that of L. terrestris and/or L. rubellus alone. This study corroborates field studies that European earthworm invasions alter North American forest ecosystem processes by initiating a cascade of impacts on plant community composition and soil properties.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (DEB-0075236), The Wilderness Research Foundation, the Lydia P. Anderson Fellowship, the Wood-Rill Fellowship from the University of Minnesota Center for Hardwood Ecology, and a University of Minnesota Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship. The late D. Dennis Linden contributed substantially to this project. Experiments performed for this study comply with US law.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, 1530 Cleveland Avenue North, 115 Green Hall, St Paul, MN, 55108-6112, USA

    Cindy M. Hale, Lee E. Frelich & Peter B. Reich

  2. The Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota Duluth, 5013 Miller Trunk Highway, Duluth, MN, 55811-1442, USA

    Cindy M. Hale & John Pastor

Authors
  1. Cindy M. Hale
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  2. Lee E. Frelich
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  3. Peter B. Reich
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  4. John Pastor
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Correspondence to Cindy M. Hale.

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Communicated by M. Bustamante.

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Hale, C.M., Frelich, L.E., Reich, P.B. et al. Exotic earthworm effects on hardwood forest floor, nutrient availability and native plants: a mesocosm study. Oecologia 155, 509–518 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-007-0925-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-007-0925-6

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