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Thai) 1:
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We expected seed germination to be affected by seed ingestionbut not by cast properties. Overall, seed ingestion by earthwormsnegatively impacted seed survival. L. terrestris ingested all seeds ofU. dioica and O. vulgare, and A. chlorotica did not excrete any of theseeds that it ingested. Our ingestion results supported results ofprevious studies (Clause et al., 2011; Eisenhauer et al., 2009; McRilland Sagar, 1973). They also support the idea that earthwormsprefer small and oil-rich seeds, i.e., O. vulgare and U. dioica. Wesuggest that earthworms do not only select seeds according to theirsmall size (they are thus easier to process) but that they also selectthem for nutritive purposes (see Clause et al., 2011). The size andoil content of the seeds are strongly correlated (unpublished data),and we suggest that ingested seeds are sensitive to both physicaland chemical damages during the transit through earthworm gut.Many studies have described the impact of earthworms onmicrobial communities, but there is very little data on the effectof this impact on seed digestion and germination and interactionswith the chemistry of seed coats. Thus, it is hard to evaluate howearthworms physically and/or chemically damage specific seeds byingesting them. Microscopic observations of excreted and noningestedseeds and the description of microbial enzymaticactivities and their impact on seeds might help disentangle therespective impacts of physical and chemical damages on seeds andtheir germination
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