Enemy Earthworms?

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Invasive Worms Eat Baby Plants

Earthworms, it has long been thought, benefit plants by recycling nutrients—leading to richer soil for the plants to grown in. New research, however, has uncovered some unexpected—and potentially unsettling—worm behavior.

Instead of simply rejuvenating the soil, these studies have found, earthworms actually hunt for young plants and seeds—devouring them before they have a chance to poke through the surface.

To study the worms' dietary preferences, researchers offered them a variety of seeds and seedlings. The noticed that the earthworms selectively fed on slow-germinating, nitrogen-rich seeds and seedlings. This behavior inevitably led to the death of the plant but the worms that were able to find these meals grew larger and performed better than those that did not.

For gardeners who see a clear benefit from increased earthworm activity, these findings could help them attract even more into their beds. Indeed, because of javascript:void(0)their important role in maintaining soil health, earthworms cannot in most cases be considered pests.

Still, when exotic worms enter non-native habitats, endemic plants may be unable to cope with the new predators. These recent findings support field observations that the introduction of earthworms is sometimes followed by the extinction of local plants.

Nico Eisenhauer, who led the study, explained:

The finding that earthworms function as seedling predators highlights the necessity to prevent the further anthropogenic spread of exotic earthworms.

Hope my local earthworms don't fall into this camp. Sort of reminds me of Dune's spice eating worms.