Making Waves: Modeling bioturbation in soils – are we burrowing in the right direction?

Abstract

The burrowing, feeding and foraging activities of terrestrial and benthic organisms induce displacements of soil and sediment materials, leading to a profound mixing of these media. Such particle movements, called “sediment reworking” in aquatic environments and “bioturbation” in soils, have been thoroughly studied and modeled in sediments, where they affect organic matter mineralization and contaminant fluxes. In comparison, studies characterizing the translocation, by soil burrowers, of mineral particles, organic matter and adsorbed contaminants are paradoxically fewer. Nevertheless, models borrowed from aquatic ecology are used to predict the impact of bioturbation on organic matter turnover and contaminant transport in the soil. However, these models are based on hypotheses that have not been tested with adequate observations in soils, and may not necessarily reflect the actual impact of soil burrowers on particle translocation. This paper aims to (i) highlight the possible shortcomings linked to the current use of sediment reworking models for soils, (ii) identify how recent progresses in aquatic ecology could help to circumvent these limitations, and (iii) propose key steps to ensure that soil bioturbation models are built on solid foundations: more accurate models of organic matter turnover, soil evolution and contaminant transport in the soil are at stake