Hello, I'm the OUTDOOR PROFESSOR from DiscoveringTheOutdoors.com/
Here's your outdoor tip on earthworms.
As a kid, I can remember the favorite bait my family used for fishing was night crawlers. They were easy to keep alive in a “bait box” as long as it was in the shade and were easy to put on the hook—much easier than keeping minnows alive and on the hook—and worms always seem to catch as many fish.
You may have had the experience of taking a shovel out in the backyard and digging some fresh worms for a fishing trip. Or maybe, you went out after a rain in the evening and gathered what you called “night crawlers” for fishing.
While you may think an earthworm is an earthworm, there are about 6000 know species of earthworms. In most cases in the United States you have a species of what’s called a common earthworm and red worms largely used in composting—although these two general categories represent a number of different species. The two general types have a number of characteristics in common, but there are significant differences in the worms.
Earthworms are commonly found in your yard and garden so I will spend most of my time talking generally about them. They consume the soil getting their nutritional needs from things living in it such as fungi and bacteria. They leave castings or waste behind that is good for growing plants. They also are active burrowers that are good for aerating the soil. Earthworms are frequently called nightcrawlers, although many nightwrawlers are specialized European species.
Rainstorms at night bring nightcrawlers to the surface and you will often find them in the driveway or street. It not known for sure why they surface with the rain, but some ideas include:
- They might surface for oxygen if their tunnels fill with water,
- Their skin must stay moist and the rain gives them the chance to slide quickly over the land.
- They mate on the surface and want to stay out of the sun.
- Earthworms are sensitive to poisons that rain might wash into their tunnels forcing them to escape.
Earthworm bodies are composed of ring-like segments called annuli covered in small bristles that help the worm move and burrow as deep as about 6.5 feet. Some can grow to more than 12 inches and live for about 6 years. Their mouth is on their first segment and they can consume about one third of their weight each day in organic matter. Earthworms do not have eyes, but they do have specialized photosensitive cells called "light cells of Hess"—keeping them out of the light.
Earthworms are hermaphroditic, but do not self-fertilize. The sperm and egg cells are deposited in a tiny, lemon-shaped cocoon and it is buried for 2-4 weeks when the baby worms emerge.
Some say that you can cut a worm in two and it will become two worms. This is not true, but earthworms have the ability to regenerate lost segments.
The major benefit of earthworm activities is to create soil fertility. They play a major role in the conversion of organic matter into rich humus. In addition to organic matter, the earthworm ingests other soil particles and excretes it in the form of casts deposited on the surface of the soil changing mineral and plant nutrients into an accessible form for plants to use. Also, the earthworms burrowing creates channels though the soil that maintains the soil structure enabling aeration and drainage.
Earthworms facilitate nutrient cycling in the soil-plant system. The earthworm's work cannot be taken for granted. Worms will only continue to thrive by the care of a variety of environmental factors controlled by good management by gardeners and farmers. The weight of earthworms under a farmer’s soil could be greater than that of the livestock on the surface of the farm.
The best way to have worm populations flourish is to avoid the application of chemicals. Application of organic matter as a surface mulch provides them with their food and nutrient requirements. They then just need a moist soil and no extreme temperatures for optimum living conditions .
The health of earthworms relies on both physical and chemical properties of the soil, such as temperature, moisture, food, pH, salts, aeration, and texture. Earthworms are very important to the environment as they are the base of many food chains. They are preyed upon by many species of animals. They are also hosts for many internal parasites.
So even though earthworm may often be out of mind and sight under your feet, their importance to us goes far beyond being on the end of a fish hook.
This is the OUTDOOR PROFESSOR from DiscoveringTheOutdoors.com/
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References-Additional Reading
Colorado Annelidof Interest
https://bspm.agsci.colostate.edu/files/2013/03/Nightcrawlers.pdf
Common Earthworm
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/earthworm/
Red Wigglers vs Earthworms in Compost
http://www.pintsizefarm.com/red-wigglers-vs-earthworms-in-composting/?utm_content=bufferc9f7a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Nature Quotient.
eBook @Amazon.com
Outdoor Professor’s Tips: Exploring the Wonders of Nature
eBook @Amazon.com
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