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Well...there are areas of the wheat and farm belt that haven't had a single earth worm in over 70s years. This isn't new, it is in fact quite an old story. Chemical nitrogen fertilizer will burn worms to death. After destroying all the *mycorrhiza* fungi and other micro organism and reducing the organic matter to about 1% or less...the worms die off. However...it should be noted that with the exception of *Eisenia fetida* and the *Lumbricus terrestris* most earth worms are really an 'invasive species' imported from Europe and Africa. Overall they are positive and the number of earthworms in the soil is indicative of soil health, that is, great amounts of organic matter in the soil. They are like canneries in the coal mine...when one ceases to see them in a spade of soil, you know you have problems. Worms represent sort of the final processing of the decomposition of dung and plant litter on the ground. Sometimes before, sometimes after decomp has set in. Along with dung beetles there are hundreds of species of worms. On the other hand, while worms have a symbiotic relationship with most species of plants in grass lands and on the edge of forests...they are very detrimental to forests. In some places in the northern plains, Minnesota and Wisconsin, you can see signs that say "keep your earthworms away!". Why? Because North American forests evolved without them, at all. Earthworms actually pull leaves and other forest floor litter into their dens and can deny the trees the need nutrition. The book is still out on this and it's being studies but the consensus is slowly developing that invasive earth worm species are detrimental to forest health. David _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
