Environmental controls on the production of calcium carbonate by earthworms

Versteegh, E. A. A., Black, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1396-4821 and Hodson, M. E. (2014) Environmental controls on the production of calcium carbonate by earthworms. Soil Biology & Biochemistry, 70. pp. 159-161. ISSN 0038-0717 doi: 10.1016/j.soilbio.2013.12.013

Abstract/Summary

Lumbricus terrestris earthworms produce calcium carbonate (CaCO3) granules with unknown physiological function. To investigate carbon sequestration potential, the influence of temperature and CO2 concentration ([CO2]) on CaCO3 production was investigated using three soils, five temperatures(3-20 C) and four atmospheric [CO2] (439-3793 ppm). Granule production rates differed between soils, but could not be related to any soil characteristics measured. Production rates increased with temperature, probably because of higher metabolic rate, and with soil CO2 concentration. Implications for carbon sequestration are discussed. CaCO3 production in earthworms is probably related to pH regulation of blood and tissue fluid in the high CO2 environment of the soil.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-pure-test.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/37710
Identification Number/DOI	10.1016/j.soilbio.2013.12.013
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Central Services Science > School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science > Department of Geography and Environmental Science
Publisher Statement	This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works License, which permits non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Download/View statistics	View download statistics for this item