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

生物入侵是当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），但土壤中的入侵同样重要。 目前，外来物种正在入侵北美森林的广大地理区域，并造成土壤环境的显着变化。 之前NSF资助的在纽约州两个森林景观中进行的研究表明，入侵对森林土壤产生了惊人但复杂的影响，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入侵如何通过改变土壤食物网来影响碳和氮的动态。稳定同位素（13 C和15 N）将被用来探索如何通过不同的土壤成分的碳和氮的流动是相关的土壤食物网结构的变化，以及通过林地蝾螈种群流入地上食物网。 该研究将与正式和非正式的K-12教育和宣传工作相结合，其基础是生态学是一种强大的工具，可以让各种各样的人参与思考土壤和生态系统。

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.