I've recently seen stuff like that too. There is a new study that came out of UW-Madison (5 square miles of crazy surrounded by normal) that is saying that soil is causing global warming; earth is bad for the Earth.
My professional opinion is there were worms in North America prior to the Pleistocene glaciers, so they are in fact a native species and it just took them a while to revive. If they are invasive, then so are all living creatures that are unable to survive under a few miles of ice for a few thousand years.

That's patently insane. Soil is the most productive carbon sink that we have. I will definitely have to look that one up.

It looks like a page from the Minnesota DNR (Dept of Natural Resources) is most of the basis for the paragraph I posted. Oddly, worms up north (of me) do seem to deplete the foamy top layer of the forest floor, by speeding up the decomposition of fallen leaves. Bummer for them. Their page is actually somewhat convincing, as far as not releasing non-native earthworms into forested areas.

I did find quite a few studies that document the (indirect) changes that worms cause, but they were all based in those northern forests and in Canada. I did not find any good evidence to convince me not to release red wigglers into gardens in an urban area of the Ohio River valley. We already have scads of worms here, and they've been here for a very, very long time already.

When that bulls### convinces my soil (formerly clayish, worthlessness) and vegetation (formerly a chemical dump) that it is so, I'll treat it with more respect than I do today.

Today, if I had a copy of it, I'd shred it to give it a modicum of usefulness......as bedding material.

chuckiebtoo

The poster is right...but there's nothing to be done about it now...and since thats the case I worm away guilt free. I first learned of this from the pennsylvania native plant society (in philly) at a plant sale they were having...I put a link

Here is a link that might be useful: invasive worms of north america- Wikipedia entry

Interesting perspective. I guess I could "buy" this theory pertaining to forest floors and changing the way the soil is structured and the leaves decompose. I think we have far greater worries on this earth than that, though. Every gardener/vermicomposter who uses worms to dispose of garbage and enrich their soil is preventing heaps of trash from filling up landfills as well as enriching their local soil without the use of harmful, unnatural fertilizers. The widespread "evangelism" of this worms-are-bad message would have a far more detrimental effect than the worms are having on forest floors, in my opinion. What a shame if this message became widespread and prevented people from discovering the good of vermiculture.

Yep! And what Chuckie said, too. Our gardens around here are nothing but clay if we don't amend the heck out of them. The ones that have worms and functioning soil ecosystems going are the only ones that produce anything.

I don't garden myself, though (condo living). I'm mostly in this to see how much I can divert from the landfill. That and because it's interesting and fun... Although it was more fun before I noticed my worms are dying off (different thread).

My takeaway: don't release worms in forests or near lakes.
As long as they are in bins, it's gotta be a plus. Of course if I put castings in the garden I will add some wigglers. But they are here now and doing good work in city yards and in countries that are growing more food by cultivating worms. There are threads on this. I'd link it but this site is too **** slow. So look for it if you are interested.

Worms as environmental wrecking balls is something I read about several years ago. At that time, it was Canadian scientists measuring the massive forest destruction caused by US 'night crawler' worms (as opposed to the Canadian night crawlers, which are presumed to be respectful and polite to the forest floor). The pictures were very telling, but if 'before and after' pictures are all it takes to do science, then late-night infomercials are the pinnacle of scientific enlightenment.

I remember a respected worm expert stating that worm bin leachate should be disposed of as hazardous waste because it contains alcohols, phenols, and turpines, or something to that extent. You can buy a substance called humic acid to put in your garden. It's considered to be a healthy product of composting, and a benefit to plants. If you look up humic acid on Wikipedia, you will find:

" Substances identified include ... linear alcohols, phenolic acids, and terpenoids.[4]"

We all know that earthworms accelerate the breakdown of trash materials into fertile components of soil; and that plants can only absorb nutrients after they've dissolved in water, which can just as easily wash away if there are not enough plants to take it in, or absorbent materials to hold it.

The argument that worms degrade the forest environment is usually from the standpoint of a forest without worms or understory growth, and lots of floor debris. Inclusion of worms will change the forest floor just as they do in your worm bin, but you also need to bring the plants that are compatible with the worms. If you don't, the nutrients and soil will very likely wash away. If the worms got there artificially, then the plants that take advantage of them may also need to be brought in. Since worms tend to speed up the breakdown of materials, they support fast growing plants, and animals that go dump in the night.

Scientific papers are generally written on very narrow subjects, as it's harder to get published if they include broad statements and subjects. In contrast, a journalist gets their papers published by being interesting, shocking, and scary. Neither publisher benefits from giving the whole story.

Though I haven't read the paper on dirt causing global warming, it sounds rather straightforward. I suspect the average gardener would agree that dark soil is preferred for food crops, and that plants require porous soil so the roots can get fresh air. ...well, dark soil - when exposed to the sun - warms up fast, and the dark compost releases carbon dioxide. It sounds like common knowledge that has been republished in a scientific paper and then republished by a journalist, each time exchanging some scientific integrity for political bias.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wikipedia: Humic acid

It amazes me when people put together "scientific" studies indicating that the ecosystems are being laid to waste by worms.......but empirical data continues to show that HUMAN destruction of the environment (global warming/climate change) is destroying our environs much faster, more totally and we just ignore all that crap.

But we have got to solve this worm catastrophe!

Oh, and BTW......clear-cutting vast forest regions causes total, immediate, and unrecoverable damages to those regions....plus destroying the habitats of those terrible worms.

chuckiebtoo

This is almost stunning in it's stupidity if it weren't simply ANOTHER example of the corruption of the scientific community as a whole.

First, what I have personal, first-hand knowledge of: Alaska is part of North America. Alaska has NATIVE earthworms. Alaska was covered by glaciers during the last ice-age. That in itself renders the rest of the 'article' not simply suspect, but basically unbelievable in the literal sense of the phrase.

Second: Wikipedia's topic (from the link in the fifth post) states: "Of the 182 taxa of earthworms found in the United States of America and Canada, 60 or almost 33% are invasive species." Which flies directly in the face of "Unless you live in the southeast or parts of the Pacific Northwest, your region has no native worms." 66% is not "no", in fact, it is THE MAJORITY by a large part! Furthermore, those areas of North America are not the only places void of glaciers in the last ice-age.

This is too stupid to even discuss. I don't know what their agenda is, but they are idiots or liars or both.

Paul

Another anti-worm article:

These 'Crazy Worms' Are Poised To Wreak Havoc On The Midwest

Not sure about being able to identify them by the white band around their middle.

http://www.businessinsider.com/crazy-worms-have-invaded-wisconsin-2014-7#ixzz37x9Dynb2

Oy ve. Why does all stupid stuff come from my state?