Globally soil fauna consumes about half of the annual litter fall. An important question is how this activity affects the mineralization and stabilization of soil organic matter. Here we explore how much earthworms influence the decomposition of litter and the stabilization of organic matter in soils at various stages of soil development (various soil age) that are supplied with litter of various quality. The laboratory mesocosms consist of litter and a mineral layer. The mineral soils originated either from spruce and alder stands growing either on post-mining soils (young soils after about 50 years of soil development) or from soils in the close vicinity of post-mining sites (mature soils with several thousand years of soil development), the mineral soils were supplied by matching litter, the mesocosms were either without earthworms or with two individuals of earthworms. The earthworm effect showed statistically significant interaction with tree and soil age: earthworms increased respiration in both alder soils, but in spruce soils only in mature soil, while the opposite was true for young soils. In general, earthworms promoted the removal of litter from the soil surface and carbon accumulation in the mineral soil. Earthworms promoted C storage in mineral associated organic matter (MAOM), especially in young spruce soils. The results suggested that earthworm activity in young soils which were far from saturation (spruce on post-mining soils) promotes soil C sequestration by promoting C storage in MAOM, whereas earthworms in mature, C saturated soils tend to promote soil respiration. More broadly, earthworms effect on soil depends on stage of soil C saturation.

全球土壤动物消耗了每年大约一半的凋落物。一个重要的问题是这种活动如何影响土壤有机质的矿化和稳定。在这里，我们探讨了蚯蚓对不同质量的凋落物提供的不同土壤发育阶段（不同土龄）的凋落物分解和土壤中有机质的稳定有多大影响。实验室中生态系统由枯枝落叶和矿物层组成。矿质土壤要么来自生长在采矿后土壤（经过大约 50 年土壤发育的年轻土壤）上的云杉和桤木林，要么来自采矿后地点附近的土壤（经过数千年土壤发育的成熟土壤） ），矿质土壤由匹配的枯枝落叶提供，中生态系统要么没有蚯蚓，要么有两个蚯蚓。蚯蚓效应显示出与树龄和土壤年龄存在统计上显着的相互作用：蚯蚓增加了两种桤木土壤的呼吸作用，但仅在云杉土壤中增加了成熟土壤的呼吸作用，而对于年轻的土壤则相反。一般来说，蚯蚓促进了土壤表面凋落物的清除和矿质土壤中碳的积累。蚯蚓促进了矿物伴生有机质（MAOM）中的碳储存，特别是在云杉幼土中。结果表明，远未饱和的年轻土壤（采矿后土壤中的云杉）中的蚯蚓活动通过促进MAOM中的碳储存来促进土壤碳固存，而成熟的碳饱和土壤中的蚯蚓则倾向于促进土壤呼吸。更广泛地说，蚯蚓对土壤的影响取决于土壤碳饱和的阶段。