Biodiversity is responsible for the provision of many ecosystem services; human well‐being
is based on these services, and consequently on biodiversity. In soil, earthworms represent …

This chapter aims to review the main causes leading to dispersal, with an emphasis on
proximate factors. I will consider causality in dispersal as any factor that explains variation …

Now that so many ecosystems face rapid and major environmental change, the ability of
species to respond to these changes by dispersing or moving between different patches of …

Following a request from EFSA, the Panel on Plant Protection Products and their Residues
developed an opinion on the science behind the risk assessment of plant protection …

Soil engineers, such as earthworms and termites, are key organisms in soil functioning.
They are involved in many ecological processes and play a central role in numerous …

New non-tillage or reduced tillage agricultural practises are being increasingly adopted but
generally result in higher soil compaction. Due to their recognised physical influence mainly …

Ecosystem engineers strongly influence the communities in which they live by modifying
habitats and altering resource availability. These biogenic changes can persist beyond the …

For cultivated soils, the important function of earthworms as ecosystem engineers and their
major contribution to the composition and functioning of soil ecosystems with a varying …

Organisms that immigrate into a recipient habitat generate a movement pattern that affects
local population dynamics and the environment. Spillover is the pattern of unidirectional …

Colonization success increases with the size of the founding group. Both demographic and
genetic factors underlie this relationship, yet because genetic diversity normally increases …