Did you know that the Northeast has no native earthworms? Neither did I until I read When Worms Turn in the Boston Globe. It seems that all worms around here have been imported by fishermen and gardeners. They have also hitched rides in imported soil, on vehicle tires and on other machinery.
The forest floor is covered with a thick layer of "duff", leaves and other matter in various stages of decomposition. The forest denizens have adapted to this matter and many species of plants rely on the duff for a place to germinate.
The earthworms eat thru the duff, leaving in its place soil like what gardeners like, but which native species have no use for. It affects everything in the forest ecosystem from trilliums to maple trees; from beetles, to salamanders, to birds. you can see the difference in the pictures presented in Plants and Garden News. Earthworms can even hasten the invasion of non-native plant species because those are the plants that like the conditions caused by earthworms.
And here I was all excited the first time I actually found a worm in my garden (this place spent several long years without any worms at all). I didn't intentionally bring any in, although I did think about it a couple of times, but there are places now where worms are thriving. When I dug up a little Japanese Maple, to save it from the excavator earlier this year, I found tons of earthworms in the mulch and amended soil. I saved every one I could find and put them in the small shrub garden by the driveway. They'll be fine there, but what about the forest that is directly behind that area? Will it, in a couple of years loose its forest mat, all because I saved some earthworms?
Gee, I can't do anything around here without ruining the environment. Well, it goes to show that all us SUV drivers are big ole meanies that are out to ruin the universe - glad I could perpetuate that stereotype!
That's an eye-opener, Bogie. We tend to think that a good in one location is a good in another (although, I should think that the rock pigeons, house sparrows, and European starlings would, long ago, have convinced us otherwise!) As you recall, my house in Albuquerque was in a new development: our yards were sand. I was delighted when I first found a worm in my vegetable garden where I had for several years been entering my green garbage. I knew that the worms had come in with the pinon trees that I had had planted; but, I thought it was a great thing. I hope that Sandia Crest doesn't, like the Old Man of the Mountain, come tumbling down one day--due to my carelessness!
Posted by: Cop Car | December 13, 2006 at 08:27 AM