Earthworms dominate the invertebrate biomass in soils. Although the effects of living earthworms on soil functioning have been extensively studied, the ecological impacts of earthworm cadavers on soil microbiota remain unclear. In a 10-weeks laboratory incubation experiment, we monitored the influence of decomposing earthworm cadavers on the diversity and composition of soil bacterial, fungal and protistan communities. We found that the decomposition of earthworm cadavers decreased alpha diversity and changed the composition of microbial communities in comparison to control soil and soil with living earthworms. Although the functional composition of bacterial communities was not significantly influenced by the presence of dead earthworms, both fungal and protistan communities significantly shifted toward r-selected copiotrophic strategists; fungal communities were significantly enriched in molds and yeasts while protistan communities were enriched in saprotrophs. Our results suggest that dead earthworms play a distinct role in influencing soil microbial communities and associated functioning compared to their living counterparts. They further highlight that there is an increasing need to consider the afterlife effects of soil biota to better predict soil biogeochemical cycling in terrestrial ecosystems.

蚯蚓在土壤中占主导地位的无脊椎动物生物量。尽管活蚯蚓对土壤功能的影响已被广泛研究，但蚯蚓尸体对土壤微生物群的生态影响仍不清楚。在为期 10 周的实验室孵化实验中，我们监测了腐烂的蚯蚓尸体对土壤细菌、真菌和原生生物群落多样性和组成的影响。我们发现，与对照土壤和含有活蚯蚓的土壤相比，蚯蚓尸体的分解降低了α多样性并改变了微生物群落的组成。虽然细菌群落的功能组成不受死亡蚯蚓存在的显着影响，但真菌和原生生物群落都显着转向r- 选定的富营养化战略家；真菌群落富含霉菌和酵母菌，而原生生物群落富含腐生菌。我们的研究结果表明，与活的同类相比，死去的蚯蚓在影响土壤微生物群落和相关功能方面发挥着独特的作用。他们进一步强调，越来越需要考虑土壤生物群的来世影响，以更好地预测陆地生态系统中的土壤生物地球化学循环。