LETHBRIDGE Alta. – Slithering worms can spark a child’s curiosity and serve as telltale signs to farmers.
These points are at the heart of a national earthworm study.
Scientists know worms thrive in healthy soils. Soils with an abundance of organic matter and well-balanced nutrients also contain a lot of worms. The worms, in turn, improve the quality of the soil by aerating the ground, improving filtration and increasing available nitrogen.
Jill Clapperton, a scientist with Agriculture Canada in Lethbridge, Alta., hopes a combination of kids, farmers, scientists and worms can provide data for a national demographic map and computer database of Canada’s 25 species of worms.
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While earthworms have been much studied, the total effect they have on agriculture is still largely speculative. Worm Watch, as the project is known, will help generate data for the study of earthworms as indicators of soil changes and conditions.
Researchers at Agriculture Canada in Lethbridge, and London, Ont., will analyze the data for ways to use the worms in integrated pest management, soil improvement and site reclamation.
Before research can proceed, data must be collected. Worm Watch will begin next fall with school students, farmers and naturalists from all provinces and territories participating.
“We have had an incredible response for the school program already and it doesn’t start until fall,” said Clapperton.
She said the study still needs a lot of farmers.
“We need to be able to study worm populations on farmland that is changing, moving from tillage to minimum or zero tillage and using regular crop rotations. That sort of information will probably come from rural students but the best source will be farmers that participate in the project,” said Clapperton.
The Lethbridge researcher said one of the first benefits of the five-year study could be improved public awareness of soil health. Urban children learn about the environment and rural children learn about their family profession by comparing differences in the soil under different management strategies.
“I think farmers in the old days probably spent more time looking at their soil condition and recognizing changes through indicators such as worms. Today’s farmers could probably benefit from some of that old-time awareness,” she said.
Project handbooks outline information about how to sample, identify, preserve and age the crawling critters so researchers can benefit from the public participation.
For more information contact:
Jill Clapperton, Box 3000, Lethbridge, Alta. T1J 4B1 or phone 403-317-2221 or visit the internet website at http://res.agr.ca/leth/
