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The role of earthworms in nitrogen and solute retention in a tropical forest in Sabah, Malaysia: a pilot study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 November 2012

Sarah Johnson
Affiliation:
School of Environment and Life Sciences, University of Salford, Salford, UK
Arshiya Bose
Affiliation:
School of Geography, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Jake L. Snaddon
Affiliation:
Biodiversity Institute, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, UK
Brian Moss*
Affiliation:
School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
*
1Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]

Extract

Compounds of the 20 elements needed by living organisms are relatively soluble in water and therefore vulnerable to being leached and lost from terrestrial ecosystems during mineralization. Intact systems have thus acquired retention mechanisms that sequester nutrients and minimize losses. Such mechanisms should be particularly important where rainfall is very high but direct evidence of retention mechanisms in tropical forests is scarce (Snaddon et al. 2012, Turner et al. 2007).

Type
Short Communication
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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References

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