As I said, I'm not an expert, just passing along information I've picked up from publications like _Science News_ and such. Do the worms deprive mycorrhiza of organics and prevent them from passing nutrients along to trees?
Thanks, DMc ---- Geoffrey Patton <gwpatt...@yahoo.com> wrote: > So where is the discussion of worms vs Mycorrhiza? > > Cordially yours, > Geoff Patton, Ph.D. 2208 Parker Ave., Wheaton, MD 20902 301.221.9536 > > --- On Mon, 5/3/10, David L. McNeely <mcnee...@cox.net> wrote: > > From: David L. McNeely <mcnee...@cox.net> > Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Earthworms > To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU > Date: Monday, May 3, 2010, 4:27 PM > > Bill, I'm not an expert (guy from out of town with slides), but I believe > that most soils have a redundancy of bioturbaters including rodents and > beetles, unlike some marine bottoms. In some northern forests in North > America, the European night crawler, which takes its food from the surface, > has depleted the litter layer in the extreme, exposing tree roots to harsh > conditions and actually rendering soil less rather than more permeable. Some > of the forest floors that formerly were thickly covered with natural mulch > are bare. DMc > > The source of these worm introductions is probably bait dumped when no longer > needed. > > ---- William Silvert <cien...@silvert.org> wrote: > > Perhaps Bruce could fill us in on earthworms, since not all of us are > > knowledgable in this area (I'm a marine ecologist and obviously picked up > > on some inaccurate ideas). I always assumed that they played the same role > > as some key polychaetes do in benthic systems, where it has been shown that > > if just one key species is eliminated the bottom turns to concrete. > > > > So please: if earthworms are absent, what keeps the soil aerated and broken > > up? What are the detrimental impacts of the undesirable earthworm species? > > What is the range of ecosystem functions that earthworms play? > > > > Bill Silvert > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: Bruce A. Snyder > > To: William Silvert > > Cc: ECOLOG-L@listserv.umd.edu > > Sent: segunda-feira, 3 de Maio de 2010 18:41 > > Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] State Microbes and Yucky Worms > > > > > > Native Nearctic earthworms have not been eliminated and are quite > >diverse. Pleistocene glaciations did extirpate them from the northern > >portion of the continent, and the present-day ecosystems in this region > >developed just fine without the presence of earthworms. This is where the > >detrimental impacts of invasive earthworms are the most prominent. European > >earthworms are the primary culprits in the northern forests, but Asian, > >African, and South American species have all found there way to North > >America. > > > > Collective nouns are not a problem in themselves, but it is troublesome > >when a collective term is applied to describe the homogeneity of something > >that is far from homogeneous. E.g., not all earthworm individuals are the > >same species and as such not all function the same; not all earthworm > >species are beneficial in all locations. > > -- > David McNeely > -- David McNeely
