9781565124684

They destroy plant diseases. They break down toxins. They plough the earth. They transform forests. They've survived two mass extinctions, including the one that wiped out the dinosaur. Not bad for a creature that's deaf, blind, and spineless. Who knew that earthworms were one of our planet's most important caretakers? Or that Charles Darwin devoted his last years to studying their remarkable achievements?

Amy Stewart is the author of From the Ground Up: The Story of a First Garden, and is the garden columnist and book critic for North Coast Journal. Her articles appear in a number of publications, including Organic Gardening, Bird Watcher's Digest, and the San Francisco Chronicle

Author's Note

xi

Prologue

xiii

Darwin's Worms

1

(19)

Unsung Hero

20

(11)

The Earth Moved

31

(14)

Intestines of the Soil

45

(20)

As They Can neither See nor Hear

65

(20)

European Conquest

85

(14)

In the Forest

99

(11)

Stalking the Giant Worm

110

(11)

Nature's Plough

121

(16)

Counting Worms

137

(11)

Garbage into Gold

148

(16)

Public Duties

164

(11)

The Ascent of the Worm

175

(26)

Epilogue

201

(6)

Selected Bibliography

207

(2)

Appendix: Worm Resources

209

(6)

Index

215

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8 Bizarre Facts About EarthwormsThe earthworm may be small, spineless, and blind, but its impact on the ecosystem is profound. Now, thanks to Amy Stewart, author of THE EARTH MOVED, earthworms of the world can stand a little taller.Worms' ancestors date back over 250 million years. They survived two mass extinctions, including the one that killed the dinosaurs.There are over 4,500 species of earth worms and many more species have not yet been identified and cataloged.Worms are hermaphrodites. To mate, they line up head to tail and can stay that way for several hours.If you cut a worm in half, you will not get two worms; however, the end that contains the head will usually grow a new tail.Charles Darwin played the piano for worms, to see how they react to different notes. He breathed on them with various scents on his breath to see how they would react to different smells.A giant earthworm in the Pacific Northwest measures two or three feet long and secretes a mucus that smells just like lilies.An ordinary nightcrawler lives about five years. Giant Australian worms live over twenty years.Earthworms have been used as bioinidcators to identify soil pollutants. They have also been fed pollutant-degrading bacteria, which they carry far below ground in pollution clean-up projects.Who knew?

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The Earth Moved On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms

The Earth Moved On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms

1565124685

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

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