Despite the importance of earthworms to making soils productive, little is known regarding the relative importance of maintenance of the various types of earthworm populations. In this study, we assessed the impact of long-term removal of two potential sources of carbon input, viz. plant litter and roots, on earthworms of Amynthas sp. (epigeic) and Pontoscolex corethrurus (endogeic) that reside at and below the soil surface and primarily rely on litter and/or soil organic matter as a food source, in two different subtropical monoculture plantations. We found that Amynthas sp. disappeared and the density and biomass of Pontoscolex corethrurus was significantly reduced under litter removal treatment, whether roots were removed or not. In contrast, root removal had no significant impact on the density and biomass of both earthworm species. The results suggest that leaf litter, rather than roots, played key roles in maintaining the populations of both the epigeic Amynthas sp. and endogeic Pontoscolex corethrurus earthworms.

尽管of对提高土壤生产力很重要，但对于维持各种types种群的相对重要性知之甚少。在这项研究中，我们评估了长期去除两种潜在碳输入源的影响。在Amynthas sp的earth上的植物凋落物和根。（表层种）和Pontoscolex围海蚓（endogeic）驻留在与土壤表面以下，并主要依靠垫料和/或土壤有机质作为食物来源，在两个不同的亚热带单一种植。我们发现Amynthas sp。消失，蓬头草的密度和生物量无论是否去除了根，在清除垫料处理后，其显着降低。相反，去除根对两种earth的密度和生物量均无显着影响。结果表明，叶子凋落物而不是根在维持这两个附生的Amynthas sp。种群中起关键作用。和内生的蓬头蛇core。