role of earthworms in soil fertility maintenance through the production of biogenic structures蚯蚓在土壤肥力的作用通过生物结构的生产维护.pdf

Hindawi Publishing Corporation Applied and Environmental Soil Science Volume 2010, Article ID 816073, 7 pages doi:10.1155/2010/816073 Review Article Role of Earthworms in Soil Fertility Maintenance through the Production of Biogenic Structures Tunira Bhadauria1 and Krishan Gopal Saxena2 1 Department of Zoology, Feroze Gandhi Post Graduate Degree College, Raebareli 229001, Uttar Pradesh, India 2 School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110067, India Correspondence should be addressed to Tunira Bhadauria, tunira@ Received 26 July 2009; Accepted 22 October 2009 Academic Editor: Natchimuthu Karmegam Copyright © 2010 T. Bhadauria and K. G. Saxena. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The soil biota benefits soil productivity and contributes to the sustainable function of all ecosystems. The cycling of nutrients is a critical function that is essential to life on earth. Earthworms (EWs) are a major component of soil fauna communities in most ecosystems and comprise a large proportion of macrofauna biomass. Their activity is beneficial because it can enhance soil nutrient cycling through the rapid incorporation of detritus into mineral soils. In addition to this mixing effect, mucus production associated with water excretion in earthworm guts also enhances the activity of other beneficial soil microorganisms. This is followed by the production of organic matter. So, in the short term, a more significant effect is the concentration of large quantities of nutrients (N, P, K, and Ca) that are easily assimilable by plants in fresh cast depositio