Earthworms—integral ecosystem engineers

Global demands for food and energy are driving research on sustainably using our planet's fast-depleting natural resources. One creative initiative looked to ancient land-use systems that supported millions of people with no apparent negative effect on biodiversity and ecosystem resilience.

Amazonian dark earths (ADEs) is an ecosystem model based on sites with highly-nutrient-enriched soils and an outstanding capacity for sequestering carbon. Part of the EU-funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships, the HOOKaWORM project built on ADEs to advance a new model for ancient land use.