federally funded research
ddobbs | March 10, 2009
A European nightcrawler, ready to make trouble
Eartthworms, it seems, are the new decimator, at least in Midwestern hardwood forests . Scientific American has the story:
Long considered a gardener's friend, earthworms can loosen and aerate the soil. But the story is different in the Great Lakes region. The last Ice Age wiped out native earthworms 10,000 years ago, and ever since the Northeast forest has evolved without the crawlers, Hale says. But now earthworms are back, a product of fishers who toss their worms into the forest, of off-road vehicles and lumber trucks that carry them in the…