The Earth Moved On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms

by Stewart, Amy

• ISBN13: 9781565124684
• ISBN10: 1565124685
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-03-11
• Publisher: Algonquin Books

Summary

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?

Author Biography

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

Table of Contents

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

Excerpts

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?