Earthworms do not increase greenhouse gas emissions (CO and NO) in an ecotron experiment simulating a three-crop rotation system.

Earthworms are known to stimulate soil greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but the majority of previous studies have used simplified model systems or lacked continuous high-frequency measurements. To address this, we conducted a 2-year study using large lysimeters (5 m area and 1.5 m soil depth) in an ecotron facility, continuously measuring ecosystem-level CO, NO, and HO fluxes.

Ecological laws for agroecological design: the need for more organized collaboration in producing, evaluating and updating ecological generalizations.

The applied discipline of agroecological design provides a useful case study for examining broader philosophical questions about the existence and importance of ecological generalizations or "laws." Recent developments in the availability and use of formal meta-analyses have led to the discovery of many resilient generalizations in ecology (Linquist et al. 2016).