Earthworms act as biochemical reactors to convert labile plant compounds into stabilized soil microbial necromass

Earthworms co-determine whether soil, as the largest terrestrial carbon reservoir, acts as source or sink for photosynthetically fixed CO 2 . However, conclusive evidence for their role in stabilising or destabilising soil carbon has not been fully established. Here, we demonstrate that earthworms function like biochemical reactors by converting labile plant compounds into microbial necromass in stabilised carbon pools without altering bulk...