The Early Photographer Catches the Worm!
Okay, so it was more like 2:40 in the afternoon. I was very happy to see this one (Genus Lumbricus, Family Lumbricidae), and happier still to move it from the road to a neighbor's lawn before it got flattened by either a tire or a shoe. These guys (well, guys/gals; they're hermaphrodites) are decomposers par excellence and are wonderful for keeping the soil fertile. I learned to truly appreciate them when I tended my first community garden plot in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Small brain. Five hearts. (Source: www.edhelper.com/AnimalReadingComprehension_185_1.html)
I love how the University of California, Davis rhapsodizes about these critters: "The humble earthworm: memento mori extraordinaire: 'Remember that thou shalt die.' The Conqueror Worm, devourer of prince and peasant. Metaphor for the frailty of the flesh, subverter of monuments, leveler of empires. Emblem of the vanity, the evanescence, and the end of all human endeavour. And yet, paradoxically, this earthworm, this great destroyer, is also a great builder- a builder of fertile topsoil, itself the sustainer of all civilization."
Write Matthew Werner, UC Santa Cruz Agroecology Program along with Robert L. Bugg, Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, in their article, Earthworms: Renewers of Agroecosystems: "More recent studies show that earthworms can help reduce soil compaction, improving permeability and aeration. Earthworms do this through burrowing activities, ingestion of soil along with plant debris, and subsequent excretion of casts. Upon drying, these casts form water-stable soil aggregates. These aggregates are clumps of soil particles bound together by organic compounds, and their presence helps improve soil structure, retain nutrients that might otherwise be leached, and reduce the threat of erosion. "
According to EdHelper, the reddish band on an earthworm is called the clitellum, which occurs closer to the head -- and in fact the head is the more tapered end of the worm. "When two earthworms huddle together with their heads pointing to different directions, they fertilize each other's eggs. While the mating takes place, earthworms use their clitellum to secrete a cocoon to protect their fertilized eggs. Later on, they deposit the egg case in the soil and leave it unattended. Baby earthworms hatch after several weeks."
The Early Photographer Catches the Worm!
Okay, so it was more like 2:40 in the afternoon. I was very happy to see this one (Genus Lumbricus, Family Lumbricidae), and happier still to move it from the road to a neighbor's lawn before it got flattened by either a tire or a shoe. These guys (well, guys/gals; they're hermaphrodites) are decomposers par excellence and are wonderful for keeping the soil fertile. I learned to truly appreciate them when I tended my first community garden plot in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Small brain. Five hearts. (Source: www.edhelper.com/AnimalReadingComprehension_185_1.html)
I love how the University of California, Davis rhapsodizes about these critters: "The humble earthworm: memento mori extraordinaire: 'Remember that thou shalt die.' The Conqueror Worm, devourer of prince and peasant. Metaphor for the frailty of the flesh, subverter of monuments, leveler of empires. Emblem of the vanity, the evanescence, and the end of all human endeavour. And yet, paradoxically, this earthworm, this great destroyer, is also a great builder- a builder of fertile topsoil, itself the sustainer of all civilization."
Write Matthew Werner, UC Santa Cruz Agroecology Program along with Robert L. Bugg, Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, in their article, Earthworms: Renewers of Agroecosystems: "More recent studies show that earthworms can help reduce soil compaction, improving permeability and aeration. Earthworms do this through burrowing activities, ingestion of soil along with plant debris, and subsequent excretion of casts. Upon drying, these casts form water-stable soil aggregates. These aggregates are clumps of soil particles bound together by organic compounds, and their presence helps improve soil structure, retain nutrients that might otherwise be leached, and reduce the threat of erosion. "
According to EdHelper, the reddish band on an earthworm is called the clitellum, which occurs closer to the head -- and in fact the head is the more tapered end of the worm. "When two earthworms huddle together with their heads pointing to different directions, they fertilize each other's eggs. While the mating takes place, earthworms use their clitellum to secrete a cocoon to protect their fertilized eggs. Later on, they deposit the egg case in the soil and leave it unattended. Baby earthworms hatch after several weeks."