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Participant: part of or influencing processes

Earthworms

Appears in 20 processs and 53 steps. Everything below is linked: open a process to see it in context.

Top processes

Earthworm drilosphere: gut passage, casts, middens and greenhouse gas effects

9 steps

Soil fauna

7 steps

Start: Fauna encounter litter and microbes
End: Fragmented litter, castings and mineralized nutrients
Macrofauna shred and ingest litter
and 4 more in this process

Earthworm gut passage, casts and the drilosphere

7 steps

Bioturbation: fauna remodel soil structure

5 steps

Aggregate formation and pore structure

4 steps

Start: Aggregate formation and pore structure
End: Aggregate formation and pore structure
Earthworm casts and burrows create stable aggregates and macropores
and 1 more in this process

Ecosystem engineering feedbacks

4 steps

Start: Ecosystem engineering feedbacks
End: Ecosystem engineering feedbacks
Engineer physically modifies the ground (burrows, mounds, litter, canopy shade)
and 1 more in this process

Show 14 more processes

Energy channels in the soil food web

3 steps

Living soil system

2 steps

Biological coupling: organic matter and soil food web

1 step

Fauna shred and mix litter (earthworms, collembola, mites, termites)

Occlusion in aggregates

1 step

Earthworm casts and gut passage stabilize aggregates

Preferential flow and macropore bypass

1 step

Cracks, worm burrows and root channels form a continuous macropore network

Pedogenesis and soil horizon development

1 step

Bioturbation mixes soil and moves material upward and downward

Soil disturbance (fire, tillage, drought) and recovery

1 step

Aggregates and structure rebuild through roots, fungi and organic binding

Soil compaction and loss of macroporosity

1 step

Subsoil compaction persists for decades because few roots, worms and frost cycles reach below plough depth

Soil compaction: stress, density, root limitation and recovery

1 step

Natural recovery by freeze-thaw, wet-dry cycles, deep perennial roots and earthworm burrowing slowly rebuilds pores

Belowground carbon allocation to roots and mycorrhizal fungi

1 step

Root-derived carbon enters the soil food web

Energy transfer through food webs

1 step

Energy channels in the soil food web

Organism-environment interactions

1 step

Ecosystem engineering feedbacks

Infiltration and surface partitioning of rain (rain intensity vs 1-1000 mm/h soil capacity)

1 step

Macropores and root channels bypass the matrix and move water below 30-100 cm within minutes

Land water partitioning and plant water flux

1 step

Macropores let water bypass the soil matrix (preferential flow)

Often found with

Soil organic matter 12 Plant roots 10 Gut microbes 9 Plants 9 Litter 7 Pore space 7 Water 7 Bacteria 6 Termites 5 Carbon 5 Ants 5 Mucus 5

Known by 719 participants and resources across the map.