You'll need RealPlayer to hear this. The authorities interviewed are Liam Henegham (Associate professor of environmental science at DePaul University) and Jim Steffan (Researcher at the Chicago Botanic Garden).
Are these guys for real? Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought that the worms ate the bacteria that decomposes the litter, not the litter itself. And then when they said that the nutrients were removed by the worms, well, what about the worm castings (poop) that they leave in the soil. That is the best fertilizer you can get. And as for the buckthorn litter disappearing faster that the oak litter, I'm thinking (no real evidence) that the oak is a harder wood than the buckthorne, and therefore takes longer to decompose. Just some ideas that I had about the broadcast. What do you think? Jane
The studies I've seen are talking about a different ecology, the forest. While earthworms are good in the garden they may not be in the forest and what I've seen is that the researchers are concerned that the worms are digesting the organic matter in the forest, maybe without understanding that that is what worms do, aid in getting the organic matter digested so the nutreints are available to the plants. Earthworms do not digest the soil bacteria but help make bigger particles of OM smaller so the acteria can work on it.
One of the effects they've been studying in Northern Minnesota is that some species of tree root in the duff on the forest floor; when worms start making that break down faster, the saplings don't thrive. That might change the balance of species in the forest.
I think the whole thing is fascinating. It never even occurred to me til I read about this guy from the U of M who studies this that worms aren't native. They give a lot of reasons for the "worm line" to be moving north - people dumping live bait, planting trees with worms in the dirt around them, bringing up truckloads of black dirt from farther south - but I wonder if the mild winters we've been having aren't the biggest culprits.
KimmSr and marshtrillium are correct. From what I've learned, most earthworms came to North America from Europe. The last ice age wiped out the worms, although the southern part of the hemisphere did have some remaining.
Just like the molusks in the Great Lakes, earth worms have damaged some of the ecology in the forests. the forests have gone thousands of years without the activity of earth worms. Their presence has caused the destruction of native plants and such.
It's important to educate anglers to not dump their leftover worms at their favorite fishing hole. Either return them to your garden or destroy them.
I loooove Garden's Alive catalog, but in the last one I was upset to see that they sell worm cocoons to add to your garden to increase the population. I feel that if you have enough organic matter in your soil, the local worms will come.
I could go on, but I'll get off my soapbox now
Posts: 0 | Location: Wake Forest, NC | Registered: May 27, 2002
