Pedosphere 36(5): 1013--1022, 2026
ISSN 1002-0160/CN 32-1315/P
©2026 Soil Science Society of China
Published by Elsevier B.V. and Science Press
| Medium- and long-term liming of an acidified forest soil promotes the abundance and activity of the French endemic earthworm Aporrectodea velox |
Apolline AUCLERC1, Yvan CAPOWIEZ2 , Johanne NAHMANI3 |
1 Université de Lorraine, National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), Laboratoire Sols & Environnement, Nancy 54000 (France);
2 UMR Eco&Sol, INRAE/Institut de Recherche pour le Développement/CIRAD/Institut Supagro, INRAE, Montpellier cedex 2 30060 (France);
3 Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, Université de Montpellier, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, 1919 route de Mende, Montpellier 34090 (France) |
| ABSTRACT |
| Globally, forests face numerous threats including soil acidification. Liming has been used as a mitigation strategy to counteract the acidification of forest soils due to decades of acidic atmospheric deposits. An experiment was carried out to evaluate the effects of liming on Aporrectodea velox, a large endemic anecic earthworm species, and on the associated soil properties in a forest located in the Vosges Mountains of northeastern France. Two limed beech forest plots, one had been limed for 3 years (L03) and the other 20 years (L20) before this study, were compared to a control plot receiving no liming (CK). We evaluated the medium- (3 years) and long-term (20 years) effects of liming on the earthworm community abundance, biomass, and activity (cast production and burrow system), as well as the endemic species population in relation to soil physicochemical properties. Liming induced a marked change in humus form: dysmoder in CK, between mesomull and amphimull in L03, and mesomull in L20. A significant increase in pH (from 4.08 to 4.72) and increases in base cation contents were recorded in the organic horizons of the limed plots. Moreover, decreases in acid cation, organic carbon, and nitrogen contents were also observed in both limed plots. Epigeic earthworms Dendrodrilus rubidus and Lumbricus rubellus dominated the earthworm community in CK, both in terms of abundance and biomass, while the anecic species A. velox dominated the community in the two limed plots. Greater amounts of surface casts, higher soil aggregation, and greater macropore density were found in the limed plots, thus showing an improvement in earthworm activity due to liming. By improving the litter, humus, and soil properties, liming is an efficient and sustainable strategy to mitigate soil acidification and base cation depletion, even over a long-term time scale. This improvement appeared to promote the settlement of the endemic A. velox population and, in turn, increase the soil bioturbation due to its high casting and burrowing activities. |
| Key Words: anecic earthworm,base cation,beech forest,burrowing behavior,earthworm cast,earthworm community,epigeic earthworm,humus form,litter quality,soil acidification,soil aggregate,soil bioturbation |
| Citation: Auclerc A, Capowiez Y, Nahmani J. 2026. Medium- and long-term liming of an acidified forest soil promotes the abundance and activity of the French endemic earthworm Aporrectodea velox. Pedosphere. 36(5): 1013-1022. |
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