Suicidal Worms

[Nienke]

Boring?!!!! How can surfacing earthworms be boring?!

Role of diurnal rhythm of oxygen consumption in emergence from soil at night after heavy rain by earthworms

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1744-7410.2007.00117.x/abstract;jsessionid=12C1BB7F0A1EFB18AF1B0F0C302CC497.d02t01

For years scientists seemed to think the only reason earthworms came to the soil surface after a good rain was to prevent drowning in their water-filled burrows...

... Soil experts now think earthworms surface during rain storms for migration purposes.

http://www.accuweather.com/blogs/news/story/28916/why-do-earthworms-surface-afte.asp

Grunting

http://http-server.carleton.ca/~jyack/pdfs/BiolLettWormgrunting(Mitraetal)(2009).pdf

Pesticide-induced surface migration by lumbricid earthworms in grassland: life-stage and species differences

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WDM-49R5DYS-1&_user=10&_coverDate=01%2F31%2F2004&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1534993732&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=819228bee0971b9916cfd24d434108fb&searchtype=a

Annual variations in earthworm surface-casting

activity and soil transport by water runoff under a

temperate maize agroecosytem

http://doc.rero.ch/lm.php?url=1000,43,4,20090616115949-FQ/Le_Bayon_R.C._-_Annual_variations_in_earthworm_surface_20090616.pdf

Response of bacteria to earthworm surface excreta

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19137725

...and so on ...nothing boring about an earthworm ...

Edited November 10, 2010 by Nienke

[Dustoff]

~

Migration is not something we think of when it comes to worms but they DO migrate and for a huge variety of reasons.

"Stampede" is another term we do not usually visualize worms doing but they do. Ask any worm rancher (no, they do not ride horses) what happens when he lets his worm beds get sour..

The prob is that when worms in migration or stampede get caught out on an open roadway or other impenetrable surface when or after the sun comes up, they cook..

Worms are hugely valuable for your yard and produce garden and we put all of our fresh banana peels and used coffee grounds (two of their favorite foods for some reason) in the garden to encourage them to live there.

Edited November 10, 2010 by Dustoff

[Beetlejuice]

Oh yea, know it all, so what about the worms that live under water then? Huh, got you now.

[surayu]

Oh yea, know it all, so what about the worms that live under water then? Huh, got you now.

Apparently they can "survive" under water for up to 2 weeks, maybe you can stand next to one to see if this scientific finding is really true? Hey what about the worm inside the Tequila bottles?

[realthaideal]

Rephrased properly, this is nothing more than the ancient riddle "Why did the earthworm cross the road?"

[IanForbes]

On our daily walk a few days ago my friend and I remarked about the same thing in Chiang Mai, and wondered what might have caused it. Excessive water WILL move worms out of the ground, but it doesn't usually happen everywhere at the same time. An electrical current WILL cause worms to come to the surface, but we couldn't think of how it would happen everywhere at the same time. From what we could determine it only happened one night. On subsequent walks through the same area we haven't noticed any great numbers of worms.

[IanForbes]

Oh yea, know it all, so what about the worms that live under water then? Huh, got you now.

There are aquatic worms that live their entire life in fertile streams

.