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Summary

Take a moment to think of the unsuspecting earthworm, A handy little critter if you need something at the end of a fishing line. A great meal if you're a robin. A mess on the driveway after a storm. What else do we know about them? Very little actually. But one researcher with Agriculture Canada, believes earthworms can make a world of difference.

Transcript of Video

Jill Deacon
Take a moment if you will to think of the unassuming little earthworm... a handy critter if you need something on the end of a fishing line... a great meal for a robin... a mess on the driveway after a rainstorm.

What else do we know about them?

Very little, actually.

But one researcher thinks that earthworms make a world of difference...

She thinks the lowly worm has plenty to tell us... and she's recruited a small army to help her listen.

Jay Ingram
This isn't your average science class... and the grade 5 and 6 students at Noble Central School couldn't be happier.

It's a picture perfect spring day... in southern Alberta.

And in a wheat field, where the prairies meet the mountains... these youngsters are the latest recruits for WORM WATCH...

They're junior scientists...

... the tools of their trade... old clothes, a shovel, and a little elbow grease.

The mission... find earthworms... or at least evidence that they live here.

If they find any... count them... and identify them.

But they must be meticulous in their search... and follow strict scientific method.

...Every hole the same size... the same depth.

They even mark their location... latitude and longitude... using satellites... and a global positioning system...

Dr. Clapperton
Its science for kids... it's, it's, it's real science... they get to participate in a program... a scientific program... they submit their data to a national... into a national study.

Jay Ingram
In fact, hundreds of school kids, gardeners, and farmers across the country are doing exactly the same thing... all of them sending their data to Dr. Clapperton in Lethbridge.

It's part of a five-year survey to map every different species of earthworm in Canada, and their habitats.

There are 25 known species... and already the project is yielding surprises.

Dr. Clapperton
We've got a new species from Vancouver Island... a species that has never been identified before in the world. And we found... uh, we found a new species last year in Alberta... we found another new species in Northern Ontario... so, we're finding new species and yet we hardly... we still... the program isn't really in full swing yet.

So we still don't have a lot of people sampling and yet, with the first few samplings, we've already found new species so we are anticipating great things...

Jay Ingram
Why should we care?

Well, worms are good for the soil... good for food production.

Their underground burrows carry oxygen and water through the soil... preventing erosion. They eat their way through debris... composting as they go, and providing nutrients to the soil.

But farming methods... such as tilling, ruin habitat. Traditionally, farmers plough fields before seeding... to turn the soil, and dig in the remnants of the past years' crop. But that activity kills the worms, and destroys their homes.

Researchers are finding it is unnecessary.

Four years ago people told Dr. Clapperton there were no earthworms on the prairies.

Since then, 35 percent of the farmers in her area have stopped tilling.

By next year, 50 percent of the prairie farmland will be low till or no till...

Farmers will do very little if any ground preparation before new crops are planted...

And the earthworms have returned.

And beneficial bacteria and fungi in the soil have multiplied.

Together these soil animals, large and small, improve soil structure, help promote plant growth, and they recycle mineral nutrients into forms plants can use.

Dr. Clapperton
We start to see that once we've created a soil habitat we don't need to use as much fertilizer any more... we don't have disease problems in the fields so we're not having to use as much fungicides... these are all really important things for long term sustainability.

Jay Ingram
And so earthworms are a little like canaries in coal mines...

If the worms are healthy... so is the soil.

Today the worm watchers are digging on Doug Wright's land...

He stopped tilling five years ago... ever since, the worms have been active partners on his farm.

Doug Wright
Definitely pays off because you're getting a better filtration of oxygen and water into the soil... So with that in mind... you're getting a lot better root structure with your crops...

You'll get a better yield in the end because of the fact that the worms are doing some underground work for your crop development and root establishment.

Jay Ingram
Despite the best efforts of 28 eager worm watchers, there are no worms to be found this day. They are finding plenty of burrows though. But the soil temperature is below five degrees Celsius... and the worms are still huddled down below the frost layer... where they survived the winter.

So the lesson heads back to the classroom...

Here they get a crash course in worm identification... to prepare them for their next expedition.

Dr. Clapperton is teaching them to look at differences in size, colour, and the shape of the distinguishing band or "clitellum" on each adult worm.

She is one of the few worm identification experts in North America.

And if a worm can't be identified...the worm watcher sends it to Dr. Clapperton's lab in Lethbridge for further study.

Once the survey is complete, Dr. Clapperton hopes to draw maps pinpointing earthworm distribution across Canada.

And she believes it will also show clear correlations to human migration.

Dr. Clapperton
We know that people that colonized this country brought earthworms with them from their homes.

We're quite sure that we're going to see in and around farmsteads in certain areas... we're going to see a lot more of certain species that would be... would have been brought here by people when they first came to this country.

You know, we actually may be tracing historical patterns as well... using these earthworms... and from a scientific standpoint, historically, it gives us an opportunity to look at what we call genetic drift... so we're looking at changing... changes in the genome of a particular earthworm species that would have been introduced and then would have mixed with the species that were already here.

Jay Ingram
Historian... Educator... Farmer... Guardian of healthy soils...

Pretty big jobs for such a small creature...

And at long last the earthworm... is getting the attention it deserves.

Jill Deacon
Tonight's edition of Earth Tones was produced with the help of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.