Earthworms are eating anything they can find. Sometimes the victors benefit the tree and sometimes they do not. Every tree treatment affects the rhizosphere in some way. The more you know about the rhizosphere, the better the chances are that your treatments will lead to benefits rather than harm. Declines usually mean the trees are sick because there is a problem in the rhizosphere.
Disruption means wounding, severe mechanical impacts and fracturing.
Dysfunction means some parts and processes of the living system have developed problems that retard or prevent their functioning and growth. Depletion means that the basic substances for life begin to decrease to the point where injury and death are certain. One of the ways depletion injures organisms is by starvation. This has come about because wood-products research gained an early lead over research on wood in living trees. Sapwood in living trees has many more living cells than dead cells.