Summary
<p>Earthworms are ecosystem engineers, capable of modifying the soil environment they inhabit. Recent evidence indicates that they increase the mobility and availability of potentially toxic elements in soils, but the systematic synthesis of the evidence required to understand mechanisms and identify soils most susceptible to earthworm-induced potentially toxic element mobilisation is lacking. We undertook a meta-analysis of 43 peer reviewed journal articles, comprising 1185 pairwise comparisons to quantify the impact of earthworms on potentially toxic element mobility in bulk earthworm-inhabited soil and earthworm casts and on plant uptake and concentration. We find that earthworms mobilise potentially toxic elements primarily due to the passage of soil through the earthworm
Dig deeper with Pulse AI.
Pulse AI has read the whole catalogue. Ask about this record, its theme, or how the findings apply to UK farming and policy — every answer cites the underlying studies.