The characteristic difference between non-drilosphere and drilosphere-aged biochar: Revealing that earthworms accelerate the aging of biochar

Numerous researches have been conducted on the effects of biotic and abiotic-induced aging on the physicochemical characteristics and functions of biochar; however, the impacts of earthworm-induced aging on biochar have not been reported. Hence, we conducted a microscopic experiment simulating a ‘drilosphere’ to explore the influence of earthworm activity on the natural aging of rice husk biochar (RHBC) through the difference in biochar characteristics after aging in drilosphere and non-drilosphere. The earthworm activity increases the available nitrogen (AN) and dissolved organic matter (DOM) contents of aged RHBC and changes its composition. The increase of DOM and AN content may recruit more microorganisms to colonize biochar and accelerate the biological oxidation of biochar. Furthermore, earthworm activity significantly increased the contents of oxygen (O) and O-containing functional groups in the aged RHBC and decreased the stability (aromaticity) of the aged RHBC, suggesting that the earthworm activity accelerates the natural aging of biochar. Earthworm feeding promotes physical damage to biochar. Besides, the earthworm activity decreased the pH, hydrophilicity and specific surface area (SSA) of aged RHBC but enhanced the adsorption capacity of aged RHBC for heavy metals. The higher content of O-containing functional groups on the surface of drilosphere-aged RHBC was the main reason for its higher adsorption performance. Earthworm feeding promotes physical damage to biochar. These results indicate that earthworm activity can accelerate the natural aging of biochar and alter its physicochemical characteristics and functions. This study illustrates how biochar characteristics change in earthworm-soil systems, which will help scientifically evaluate the long-term effectiveness of biochar.