Earthworm Dilemma' Has Climate Scientists Racing to Keep Up

[applegrove]

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/20/science/earthworms-soil-climate.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur

By Alanna Mitchell at the N.Y. Times

"SNIP....

Native earthworms disappeared from most of northern North America 10,000 years ago, during the ice age. Now invasive earthworm species from southern Europe — survivors of that frozen epoch, and introduced to this continent by European settlers centuries ago — are making their way through northern forests, their spread hastened by roads, timber and petroleum activity, tire treads, boats, anglers and even gardeners.

As the worms feed, they release into the atmosphere much of the carbon stored in the forest floor. Climate scientists are worried.

“Earthworms are yet another factor that can affect the carbon balance,” Werner Kurz, a researcher with the Canadian Forest Service in Victoria, British Columbia, wrote in an email. His fear is that the growing incursion of earthworms — not just in North America, but also in northern Europe and Russia — could convert the boreal forest, now a powerful global carbon sponge, into a carbon spout.

......

“Even though worms themselves are tiny and don’t individually seem to constitute a threat, when you think of how many of them there are, they’re very important organisms, for the good or the bad,” said Mr. Wackett.

.....SNIP"

[canetoad]

1. Interesting, thanks.

I wonder how far the benefits of worms, ie. aerating the soil, fertilizing via worm casts, thereby assisting plant growth, goes to offset any damage.

[Vinca]

2. On the other hand, worm castings are known to boost plant growth so maybe the forests need them.

Very complicated problem.