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Earthworms are garbage eaters —
the ultimate in dirt-digesting junk-food consumers. They eat almost anything —
scraps of fruit, morsels of dead animal flesh, leaf litter, etc. They
ingest whatever is buried and rotting in topsoil or within near-surface soil.
Meadows and pastures are crawling with worms! These busy burrowers accelerate
soil restoration after habitat disturbances, such as rehabilitating soil after
industrial mining operations. Earthworms consume organic matter and mineral
particles and many of the species defecate casts that are microbially very
active and contain nutrients, which are readily usable by plants. Of course,
earthworms are also good food for hungry birds and other vermiform-eating
predators!
BYJAMES J.S. JOHNSON, J.D., TH.D.
Despite their size,
earthworms are surprisingly helpful creatures.
They occasionally
venture above ground in broad daylight but are mostly night crawlers.
They are best known
for their underground habits, such as recycling organic waste, aerating soil,
and helping organic matter to decompose.
Earthworms
are detritivores — garbage eaters — the ultimate in dirt-digesting
junk-food consumers.
They eat almost
anything — scraps of fruit, morsels of dead animal flesh, leaf litter,
etc.
As an earthy,
underground version of “filter feeders,” they ingest whatever is buried and
rotting in topsoil or within near-surface soil.
Meadows and
pastures are crawling with worms!
Their numbers may
reach above 300,000 per acre, especially in chalky clay soil.
The aggregate
weight of a dairy farm’s earthworms likely outweighs the total weight of
livestock grazing above them.
Earthworms produce
benefits disproportionate to their numbers.
Meadow soil is
about 7% organic. Of this, 95% is either dead or plant-root material, leaving
only 5% as other organic/biota.
Of the soil biota
(excluding plant roots), only 12% are earthworms.
In other words, in
field or pasture soils, earthworms account for only about 0.042% of the soil!
Nonetheless,
earthworms produce enormously useful outcomes:
1) biochemical recycling, excreting feces 5 times richer in
usable nitrogen compounds and 11 times richer in usable phosphates;
2) geophysical restructuring, forming networks of underground
burrow-tunnels, improving aeration and water drainage; and
3) food web logistics, transporting and converting leaf litter
and manure particles into humus underground.
Amazingly, just by
living ordinary earthworm lives, these busy burrowers accelerate soil
restoration after habitat disturbances, such as rehabilitating soil after
industrial mining operations.
Because they play a
major role in the comminution [i.e., material size reduction] and
mineralisation of organic matter and greatly influence soil structure and
chemistry, the presence of a flourishing earthworm community is likely to
accelerate soil restoration and improve primary production....
By their burrowing
activity, earthworms mix and aggregate soil and minimize surface water erosion
by enhancing soil macroporosity [i.e., opening crevices to allow rainwater to
drain into soil] and water-holding capacity.
Earthworms consume
organic matter and mineral particles and many of the species egest [i.e.,
defecate] casts that are microbially very active and contain nutrients, which are
readily usable by plants [which access subsoil nutrients through root systems].
Earthworms
sometimes ingest seeds, often without destroying seed survivability.
Subsequent
defecation accelerates seed germination, awakening seeds from dormancy and
enabling water permeability.
Of course,
earthworms are also good food for hungry birds and other vermiform-eating
predators!
Yet, as valuable as
earthworms are, they are just “creeping things.”
They should never
be credited with creative power.
However, some evolutionists
— failing to give God due credit for what He did during the creation week — effectively
give credit to worms, as if they were co-creators of Earth’s biodiversity.
Evolutionists
imagine a “worm world” as being integral in naturalistically producing
ecological conditions required for the so-called Cambrian Explosion.
They say the
animism of Darwin’s natural selection magic was enabled by pre-Cambrian
vermiform fauna (i.e., worms).
That theory is not only groundless, devoid of any forensic evidence — it’s creepy.
Dr. Johnson is Associate Professor of Apologetics and Chief Academic Officer at the Institute for Creation Research.
The
Institute for Creation Research (ICR) wants people to know that God’s Word
can be trusted in everything it speaks about—from how and why we were made, to
how the universe was formed, to how we can know God and receive all He has
planned for us.
After
50 years of ministry, ICR remains a leader in scientific research within the
context of biblical creation. Founded by Dr. Henry Morris in 1970, ICR exists
to conduct scientific research within the realms of origins and Earth history,
and then to educate the public both formally and informally through
professional training programs, through conferences and seminars around the
country, and through books, magazines, and media presentations.
https://www.icr.org/article/9943
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