Collaborative Research: Invasion of North Temperate Forest Soils by Exotic Earthworms

生物入侵是目前环境科学家面临的重大挑战之一。虽然大多数入侵研究都集中在地上生物(植物、动物)上，但土壤中的入侵也同样重要。外来蚯蚓物种目前正在广泛的地理区域入侵北美森林，并正在造成土壤环境的显着变化。之前由美国国家科学基金会资助的纽约州两个森林景观的研究表明，蚯蚓入侵对森林土壤具有显著而复杂的影响，改变了土壤剖面的结构，并改变了碳、氮和磷的动态。这个更新项目将解决蚯蚓入侵如何通过改变土壤食物网来影响碳和氮的动态。将使用稳定同位素(13C和15N)来探索通过不同土壤成分的碳和氮流动如何与土壤食物网结构的变化以及通过林地火蜥蜴种群流入地上食物网有关。这项研究将与正规和非正规的K-12教育和外联工作相结合，基于以下理念：蚯蚓生态学是一种强大的工具，可以让广泛多样的人参与到土壤和生态系统的思考中来。

Biological invasions are one of great challenges currently facing environmental scientists. While most invasion research has focused on aboveground organisms (plants, animals), invasions in the soil can be equally important. Foreign earthworm species are currently invading North American forests over a wide geographic area and are causing marked changes in the soil environment. Previous NSF-funded research in two forested landscapes in New York State demonstrated that earthworm invasions had striking but complex effects on forest soils, altering the structure of soil profiles, and changing the dynamics of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus. This renewal project will address how earthworm invasions affect carbon and nitrogen dynamics by altering the soil food web. Stable isotopes (13C and 15N) will be used to explore how the flow of carbon and nitrogen through different soil components is related to shifts in soil food web structure as well as to flows into the above-ground food web via woodland salamander populations. The research will be coupled with formal and non-formal K-12 education and outreach efforts, based on the idea that earthworm ecology is a powerful tool for engaging a broad diversity of people in thinking about soils and ecosystems.