Table 3
ANOVA results for the effects of earthworms and plant community composition on plant growth, plant quality and slug herbivory
Earthworms Plant community comp. Ew x Pl.cc.
Variable F P F P F P
Plant growth
Focus spp. leaf length (cm) 0.030 0.863 2.307 0.130 0.056 0.813
A. elatius 0.092 0.763 2.819 0.098 0.208 0.650
P. vulgaris 0.048 0.828 12.106 0.001 2.438 0.124
T. pratense 6.181 0.016 28.918 <0.001 0.028 0.866
Focus spp. tiller numbers (funct. gr.-1) 1.425 0.234 12.396 0.001 1.643 0.201
A. elatius 0.815 0.370 2.481 0.120 2.364 0.129
P. vulgaris 0.014 0.906 7.704 0.007 0.507 0.479
T. pratense 2.700 0.105 9.094 0.004 0.001 0.003
Focus plants shoot biomass 1.119 0.290 4.012 0.045 2.200 0.138
A. elatius shoot mass 4.624 0.032 6.184 0.013 4.948 0.027
P. vulgaris shoot mass 0.629 0.428 0.187 0.665 0.163 0.687
T. pratense shoot mass 0.009 0.926 9.457 0.002 0.006 0.936
Total plant biomass (g mesoc.-1) 3.375 0.073 11.332 0.002 5.246 0.027
Total shoot biomass 2.511 0.120 10.986 0.002 5.751 0.021
Total root biomass 2.770 0.103 4.934 0.032 1.281 0.264
Total grass shoots 0.344 0.560 36.226 <0.001 2.302 0.136
Total forb shoots 2.744 0.105 133.920 <0.001 5.040 0.033
Total legume shoots 0.891 0.350 0.115 0.736 0.304 0.584
Plant quality
Total plant Ctot (%) 0.096 0.758 0.114 0.736 0.004 0.949
A. elatius Ctot 3.229 0.080 1.800 0.187 0.003 0.955
P. vulgaris Ctot 0.001 0.988 0.018 0.893 0.010 0.922
T. pratense Ctot 1.467 0.232 0.073 0.789 1.416 0.240
Total plant Ntot (%) 7.022 0.009 0.215 0.643 0.159 0.691
A. elatius Ntot 5.728 0.021 0.127 0.723 0.056 0.814
P. vulgaris Ntot 5.855 0.017 2.070 0.160 0.098 0.756
T. pratense Ntot 5.604 0.022 0.121 0.730 3.394 0.072
Total plant C:N ratio 6.324 0.013 0.232 0.631 0.045 0.833
A. elatius C:N ratio 5.560 0.023 0.001 0.985 0.095 0.756
P. vulgaris C:N ratio 0.360 0.553 1.484 0.232 0.073 0.789
T. pratense C:N ratio 5.078 0.029 0.001 0.992 2.561 0.117
Slug herbivory
No. damaged leaves after 3 days 0.406 0.531 2.075 0.165 0.002 0.965
P. vulgaris leaves damaged 0.006 0.939 4.531 0.041 0.028 0.869
T. pratense leaves damaged 0.138 0.714 5.248 0.033 0.138 0.714
No. damaged leaves after 6 days 7.667 0.012 0.754 0.395 0.087 0.771
P. vulgaris leaves damaged 2.621 0.121 11.346 0.003 1.555 0.227
T. pratense leaves damaged 4.961 0.038 24.719 <0.001 4.613 0.044
Total leaf area eaten mesocosm-1 0.754 0.387 10.371 0.002 3.432 0.066
P. vulgaris leaf area eaten 0.374 0.543 5.500 0.023 1.750 0.191
T. pratense leaf area eaten 0.606 0.440 6.803 0.012 0.010 0.922

P-values after sequential Bonferroni corrrections.

Zaller et al.

Zaller et al. BMC Ecology 2013 13:20   doi:10.1186/1472-6785-13-20

Open Data