Simei Yao1,2, Yu Jin2,3, Limin Zhang2, Ningfei Lei1,*, Wei Xue2,*, Jinsong Chen3, Qian Zhang2, Feihai Yu1,2
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.90, No.4, pp. 1259-1271, 2021, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2021.014968
- 27 April 2021
Abstract Soil nutrients are commonly heterogeneously distributed and earthworms are one of the most common soil organisms. While effects of both soil nutrient heterogeneity and earthworms have been well studied, their interactive effect on plant community productivity has rarely been tested. In a greenhouse experiment, we constructed experimental plant communities by sowing seed mixtures of four grasses, two legumes and two forbs in either a heterogeneous soil consisting of low and high nutrient soil patches or a homogeneous soil where the low and high nutrient soil patches were evenly mixed. The earthworm Eisenia fetida was either added… More >