Jun 5, 2022
Jumping worms from Asia are threatening crops in the U.S. Click to read the full fact.
seen from China
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from China
seen from Somalia
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from France
seen from Singapore
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from Japan
seen from Sweden
seen from United States
Jumping worms from Asia are threatening crops in the U.S. Click to read the full fact.
Revenge of the Earthworms
A gardener’s best friend? Think again. How invasive earthworms are wreaking havoc on our ecosystems
Wherever they land, jumping worms, whose roughly palm-length bodies have a distinctive pale band encircling one end, have made their presence known. They can congregate in densities as high as 200 worms per square metre and chew through the top layer of organic matter in the soil, leaving behind a loose, easily eroded dirt that resembles coffee grounds. Forests, which seem to be particularly appealing environments for jumping worms, can lose as much as 95 percent of their layer of fallen leaves in a four-month period due to these infestations, according to one study in Wisconsin. This means that the green carpet of forest understory, which includes tree seedlings and wildflowers such as trilliums and lady’s slippers, is quickly transformed into bare dirt.
Read more at thewalrus.ca.
Illustration by Joey Ng (joeynkw.com)
THE “BODYGUARDS”
While Tink and Peri are with Lord Milori, he tells them a funny anecdote that happened that morning after meeting Ree.
"I went to leave Ree at her house and when I was coming back here, suddenly a couple of VERY UGLY BLACK WORMS came out jumping to meet me and from the leaves of a plant emerged A VERY CRAZY FRECKLED GUY who asked me questions as if he were a POLICEMAN; I was very SCARED because the worms were on my sides and he was in front of me!! In the end I told him who I was and he and his worms offered themselves to me as “BODYGUARDS”... Isn't that CRAZY?"
Tink laughs and tells him: "There is nothing to worry about, he is FINN, a scout fairy who takes his talent too seriously and the worms are his LEECHES, they are friendly and very nice too".
At the end Milori says laughing: "But they really gave me a big SCARE"
These invasive pests, which ravage the soil and damage plant life, are easiest to spot now, in their adult form. But what to do if you see them?
Bradley M. Herrick, a plant ecologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum, who has been studying Asian jumping worms since discovering them on the grounds in 2013, holds a handful of adult Amynthas worms, with their distinctive, milky-white bands. Credit...Eric Hamilton/UW–Madison Communications.
Excerpt from this New York Times story:
In decades of writing about gardening, I have covered outbreaks and subsequent attempts at control of many invasive pests, from the hemlock woolly adelgid to the emerald ash borer. But there’s one I haven’t been able to stop thinking about since I learned of it in 2013.
Coming soon to a backyard or a forest near you (or maybe already there): the invasive jumping worm.
These Asian earthworms in the genus Amynthas or Metaphire — referred to in attention-grabbing headlines and YouTube videos as “crazy worms” or “snake worms” — do not target a particular organism the way many pests do. Instead, they ravage the soil on which all plant life relies. They process the organic matter in the top layer, including fallen leaves in the forest and garden mulch, so fast that the soil is often reduced to mineral content, a condition hospitable to neither roots nor soil-dwelling organisms.
Aided by human activity, the worms’ tiny, easily missed cocoons have been moved around in tire treads, in compost or mulch and in the sale of plants. And gardeners who don’t recognize them can worsen the situation by sharing plants or tracking the cocoons around.
If your soil looks different lately — if it resembles coffee grounds or hamburger meat — and some plants have stopped thriving, you may have an invasion on your hands.
As disruptive as they are in gardens, the worms are devastating in natural areas. Parts of the western Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where they were first seen in the 1990s, are already degraded. Their increasing presence in the Upper Midwest and Northeast raises concern for the Great Lakes and New England forests. Areas as wide-ranging as Oregon and Nebraska have them, too; lately, Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois joined the list.
Here, a short video:
Do you have invasive jumping worms in your garden? If you live in the Chicago area, the answer is likely yes.
This story says that the Chicago area does not have indigenous earthworms, and that these jumping worms started appearing in 2013. I say bullshit: when I was a kid in northwest Indiana (i.e., the Chicago area), we were pulling these things, or some other kind of earthworm, out of the soil by the dozens. I know because I and my friends got in tons of trouble frequently for scaring girls with the captured worms. We’d chase them, they’d scream, tell their mom, their mom would tell my mom that little Bobby was scaring her daughter, and then I got yelled at. Because of worms.
An invasive jumping worm is unearthed in Millennium Park on Aug. 13, 2019, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
Excerpt from this Chicago Tribune story:
Invasive species have gotten a fair amount of attention over the past few decades. In Illinois, we’ve been conducting all-out warfare against invaders like the emerald ash borer and the Asian carp. And yet, silently, stealthily, another invader has crept into our state, our city — even our own backyards: jumping worms, aka crazy worms, Alabama jumpers or snake worms.
They’re underfoot when you walk through the park.
They show up when you’re gardening.
Basically, in Chicago, they’re everywhere. “We consider anywhere in the Chicago area covered,” says Chris Evans, a University of Illinois Extension Service forester who is tracking the invasion.
It’s pretty easy to figure out where jumping worms, which originate in East Asia, got their name. They jump. In fact, if disturbed, they thrash violently and may leap around a little — it’s momentarily entertaining, in that scary-nature-show sort of way. “We get calls from some people who think they’ve seen a small snake,” says Evans.
Asian carp have never breached a body of freshwater the size of Lake Michigan. Here’s the bizarre way they could survive and thrive in the world’s fifth largest lake. »
The worms are energetic feeders, too, which is why they present a problem. The Midwest has no native earthworms due to glaciation. The earthworms we’re used to seeing in our gardens are European invasives.
“Not all earthworms are created equal when it comes to helping soil and gardens,” says Brad Herrick, a University of Wisconsin ecologist who studies the worms. “There are definitely worms that are beneficial for gardens and have been around a long time, but the difference is that the beneficial ones are the ones that work vertically in the soil, creating pore spaces and mixing the soil.”
An invasive worm is destroying forest floors and gardens across the country. Once jumping worms get into the soil, they're nearly impossible to get rid of — so experts say curbing their spread is the best tool against them.
Preventing the spread of the jumping worm — also known as a "crazy worm" or "snake worm" — is critical to protecting Colorado's soil and nat
https://gridphilly.com/blog-home/2024/04/01/invasive-earthworms-threaten-forests-and-gardens-and-mitigation-has-proven-difficult/