RIVER WORM (Diplocardia riparia): SPECIES ACCOUNTS
GIPPSLAND GIANT WORM (Megascolides australis): SPECIES ACCOUNTS
Earthworms are found worldwide. They do not occur in deserts, polar regions, or in strongly acid soils. A few species have been widely distributed by humans.
HABITAT
Most earthworms live in the soil, but some prefer the mud along the shores of fresh or salty bodies of water. Depending on species, many earthworms live in the upper leaf litter layer, topsoil, or in deeper layers in the soil. Others live high above the forest floor in soils that accumulate among the branches of tree canopies in tropical rainforests.
DIET
Earthworms eat dead and decomposing leaves, decaying roots, and other bits of plant material, or detritus (dih-TRY-tuhs), in the soil. Worms living in leaf litter layer, upper soil, or in soils in tree canopies eat freshly dead plant materials. Other species, such as the European night crawler, always live in deep burrows. They come up to the surface to also eat freshly dead plant tissues. Still other species remain deep in the soil, where they eat long-buried bits of detritus.
EARTHWORMS AND PEOPLE
Earthworms are very important because they improve and maintain soils, helping plants to grow. Their burrowing activities not only allow air into the soil, but also provide food for growing plants by mixing soil with bits of plant materials. Several species of earthworms are raised to collect their waste for use as a high-quality compost for gardening. Others species are raised and sold as fish bait.
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2 months ago
This site was great for one of my environment projects. Thank you so much for your help. L()C-E-L()C
3 months ago
thanks that was so awesome it help me alot in biology 2 thanks JEWEL :)
7 months ago
Hey! This site helped me so much for a acience project i had! Thanks so much!
7 months ago
Thank you so much for all the great info on this! I am doing a year13 Bio internal at school and this has helped me heaps. It is really easy to follow and a great source of information, THANK YOU
8 months ago
this helped a little. but i need to know what kind of predators seek to eat them. thanks either way :]
8 months ago
I really needed help on a Science project and this site helped a bunch!! Thanks so much for your help.
8 months ago
I really needed some information for a project and this site totally helped! Thanks a bunch!
9 months ago
Thank you! now i know how to keep my pet earthworms alive
10 months ago
Thanks a lot! This site was really useful for a report I had to write!
about 1 year ago
Thanks for this great info, guys. I got some good info for my project in school.