Planned maintenance
A system upgrade is planned for 10/12-2024, at 12:00-13:00. During this time DiVA will be unavailable.
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Invasive Earthworms and their effect on Soil Organic Matter: Impact on Soil Carbon ‘Quality’ in Fennoscandian Tundra
Umeå universitet, Institutionen för ekologi, miljö och geovetenskap.
Responsible organisation
2021 (English)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor), 10 credits / 15 HE creditsStudent thesis
Abstract [en]

Arctic soils contain a large fraction of our planets terrestrial carbon (C) pool. When tundra soils become warmer and permafrost thaws, non-native geoengineering earthworms can enter these soils and ingest organic matter accumulated over long timescales. Previous studies have found that earthworms increase mineralization rates of soil organic matter into carbon dioxide (CO2) when introduced. Yet, this initial mineralization boost seems transient with time and it has been hypothesized that earthworms stimulate the formation of persistent C forms. In this study, I investigated how non-native, geoengineering earthworms affected the relative proportions of seven carbon forms in the O and A1 horizon of tundra soil and if their effect induced a change in pH. I used Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to understand what happens to soil carbon compounds in two different tundra vegetation types (heath and meadow), that had been subjected to earthworm treatment for three summers. I found that O-aromatic C increased from 7.22% ± 0.24 (mean ± stderr) in the meadow soil lacking earthworms to 8.98% ± 0.30 in the meadow exposed to earthworms, and that aromatic C increased from 8.71% ± 0.23 to 9.93% ± 0.25. In similar, the result suggested that alkyl C decreased in this vegetation type from 20.43% ± 0.38 to 18.70% ± 0.25 due to earthworm activities. I found no effect on the chemical properties in the heath. I conclude that geoengineering earthworms affect the two vegetation types differently and that earthworms seem to enhance the accumulation of recalcitrant aromatic C forms.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2021. , p. 14
Keywords [en]
Geoengineering earthworms, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy, carbon compound composition, 13C, Arctic tundra
National Category
Natural Sciences Biological Sciences Earth and Related Environmental Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:polar:diva-8889OAI: oai:DiVA.org:polar-8889DiVA, id: diva2:1715650
Subject / course
Examensarbete i Naturgeografi för kandidatexamen
Educational program
Bachelor of Science in Biology and Earthscience
Available from: 2022-12-02 Created: 2022-12-02 Last updated: 2022-12-02Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

fulltext(669 kB)25 downloads
File information
File name FULLTEXT01.pdfFile size 669 kBChecksum SHA-512
8f8d04ff354617690ff21213d83e7e0cd87e53c829448632cc98d037db4c4ac63a37223cf31b3a0308fe7487e69c5d70de085ff1baf8f4dee7f4fab733aacc66
Type fulltextMimetype application/pdf

Natural SciencesBiological SciencesEarth and Related Environmental Sciences

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar
Total: 25 downloads
The number of downloads is the sum of all downloads of full texts. It may include eg previous versions that are now no longer available

urn-nbn

Altmetric score

urn-nbn
Total: 72 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf