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29 Nov

Digging into the world of earthworm research

aroach_517 0 Comment(s)

Autumn is almost over in the UK and with it a feast of leaf litter, but not without causing a surge in earthworm activity before winter. For the dedicated few earthworm researchers this means that the fieldwork season has been well underway. The UK has a strong history of earthworm research, with Charles Darwin leading the charge back in the late nineteenth century.

Photo of a beech and ash woodlands to show the difference in leaf litter depth

In a mainly beech woodland (left) leaves decay slowly and form a deep layer, in ash woodlands (right) leaves decay rapidly and bare soil is often visible.

15 Nov

An autumn feast for earthworms

VJBurton 0 Comment(s)

Days are shortening, the temperature is dropping and there are leaves on the line – autumn is here! The changing colour and fall of leaves is characteristic of autumn in temperate climates and this provides a glut of food for animals that feed on dead leaves – including earthworms. However not all leaves are equally nutritious for earthworms and many experiments on which earthworms prefer have been carried out, starting with Charles Darwin.

Members of the Earthworm Watch team and participants taking part this half term

Members of the Earthworm Watch team and participants taking part this half term

08 Nov

Earthworm Watch wriggles into Yorkshire

aroach_517 0 Comment(s)

The temperature may have dropped recently, with frosts appearing overnight, but earthworms are very active at this time of year. Under the soil surface it is a few degrees warmer and earthworms continue to feed on dead and decaying leaves and organic material, mixing the soil horizons through their burrowing, aerating the soil and storing carbon in tiny fragments.

Medicinal Leeches, Hirudo medicinalis grab onto waders while crossing a small weedy pond. Such a dense population of leeches is unusual – medical leeches have become a rare species in the wild. Credit: Christian Fischer CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

31 Oct

The vampire worms cometh!

VJBurton 0 Comment(s)

Tales of undead beings subsisting on the blood of the living have a long history and the modern vampire spawned from 19th century novels remains an enduring character and Halloween staple. However, blood-feeding - hematophagy to give its technical name, is no fiction. Although only three species of mammals live solely on blood – the famous the vampire bats - there are about 14,000 species of insects that do, many of which are flies – including the familiar mosquitoes, gnats and horseflies. Annelids - the group that earthworms belong too - also have their ‘vampires’ – leeches!

The fried egg worm Archipheretima middeltoni from the Phillipines © Sam James

19 Oct

Earthworms of the world

aroach_517 0 Comment(s)

One of the amazing things about working on earthworms is the fact that sooo little is known about them! This coupled with the fact that the more you discover about earthworms the more incredible they are, makes them, in my opinion, the best animals to work on. You can feel a little like the early explorers must have done when on fieldwork to countries with no species lists and real knowledge of their earthworm fauna; every stone you turn or every log you sort through can bring about the discovery of something new to science and certainly new for the country. Also everything is new for you.