Earthworm Research Paper

Earthworm Ecology The key “take-home” message from the first reading on Earthworms, “The Importance of Earthworms as Key Representatives of the Soil Fauna,” was that earthworms play a vital role in soil nutrient, water, and carbon cycles across the soils of the globe (with the exception of deserts and the arctic/antarctic). Earthworms are integral to soil nutrient cycles by making nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium more available to plants. They are key to the water cycle by increasing the water holding capacity and porosity of the soil by contributing to aggregation and by making holes that allow water to flow more rapidly down through the soil profile. Earthworms contribute to the soil carbon cycle by breaking down
The extent of the reduction in global earthworm diversity was exemplified by the author’s statement that: “It is fair to say that the diversity of agriculturally tolerant earthworms is to the total diversity of earthworms as the diversity of cultivated plants is to the total diversity of plants.”
Today, invasive “exotic” earthworms are represented by all three earthworm types: surface litter dwelling epigeic earthworms, deeper organic horizon dwelling endogeic earthworms, and the mineral layer anecic earthworms. The invasion of exotic earthworms has had wide ranging impacts on ecosystems across the world. Two examples from the reading of ecosystem disturbances caused by exotic earthworms were from Alberta and New England where the invasive earthworms have caused the destruction of forest litter layers developed over centuries of organic matter accumulation had led to changes in soil nutrient, water, and carbon