[compost_tea] Re: non-native species of earthworms

From: Kirk Leonard <kirk_at_oregonatural.com>
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2003 16:22:27 -0700

Autumn -- With respect to changing forest ecosystems in New York state, I
think acid rain and human impacts are a great deal greater than worms could
ever cause... I would also point out that "worm invasions" are more likely
a result of discarded fishing worms than of worms actually invading
anywhere. They will go where we put them and where they can live, and I for
one believe they will do no harm. Worms live on decaying organic matter,
never on live plants. Human impacts on the land are both larger and more
questionable. -- Kirk

> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2003 16:38:56 -0700
> From: Autumn Scott <autumn_at_olympus.net>
> Subject: Re: non-native species of earthworms
>
> "An article by Will Nixon in American Forests (Box 2000, Washington
> D.C. 20013) reports that forest ecologists are noting a striking lack of
> understory growth in urban and suburban forests in the New York
> metropolitan region. While rural forests have a constant supply of tree
> seedlings ready to replace the older trees, these were not seen in the
> urban-suburban woods.
>
> Also missing were many of the shrubs and groundcovers wildflowers found in
> rural woodlands. The original ecosystem was destroyed, just as occurs
after
> clear-cutting; the University of Georgia recently found that 90 years
after
> clear-cutting of woods in the Southern Appalachians, trees had grown back
> but there were no trilliums, ginseng, or other herbaceous plants found in
> old-growth forests.
>
> The New York researchers report that non-native species of earthworms had
> invaded the urban-suburban forests. These decompose fallen leaves in a
year
> instead of the five or more years it takes fungi to do the job in rural
> forests. One result of the rapid duff decomposition is the production of
> large amounts of ammonium. Bacteria convert this into nitrate, which may
> encourage the growth of species that thrive on this type of nitrogen, such
> as the Norway maple which is displacing native species in many northern
> forests.
>
> Much more research remains to be done. The crucial question: are
earthworms
> the primary cause of this major change in urban-suburban woodland
> ecosystems, or do they simply move in when something else destroys the
vast
> network of fungal filaments that digest the leaf litter layer?"
>
> Autumn
>




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Received on Thu Jun 12 2003 - 00:18:06 EDT

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