The USA was attacked by alien worms: America faces devastating consequences

Stanford scientists have warned that the United States is experiencing an “alien invasion” that could have devastating consequences across the country.

According to the Daily Mail, a team of researchers has identified 70 species of alien earthworms imported from Asia, Europe and South America that pose a threat to the ecosystem.

These invasive species consume more above-ground leaf litter than earthworms native to North America, which can kill plants and starve amphibians and insects.

Alien earthworms make up 23 percent of the continent’s 308 native species, more than any other introduced creature on record.

Alien species, as researchers call them in a new study, have been largely overlooked due to the positive impact earthworms have on the crops of farmers and gardeners. This is because they create tunnels of air, water and nutrients that plants need to thrive, while their waste also serves as a rich fertilizer.

The researchers combined the records with documents about alien earthworms that were intercepted at the US border between 1945 and 1975. Using machine learning, the team combined two databases to map the origins of the alien earthworms and how they spread across the United States.

The resulting dataset allowed the estimated number of alien species to be compared with the total number of both native and alien earthworm species, using data from 2000 to 2021.

The team then collected data on both species across 2,510 geographic areas in North America and broke them down into groups to look at the species name, area and date they were observed, as well as features of the surrounding habitat.

Their results showed that alien earthworms live in 97 percent of soil across North America and represent 23 percent of earthworm species.

The jumping worm, also called Amynthas spp., is one of the invasive species that has invaded Washington, D.C., and is destroying plants and trees by sucking nutrients from the soil.

Alien earthworms are more common in Canada, where the population is three times larger than native earthworms, while in the lower 48 US states and Mexico there is only one “alien” earthworm for every two native earthworms.

“These ratios are likely to increase as human activities promote the development of alien species that threaten native earthworm species, a phenomenon that has been largely overlooked until now,” said Jérôme Mathieu, lead author of the study and assistant professor of ecology. at the Sorbonne.

Non-native earthworms are mainly spread when people sell them as fish bait or for vermicomposting, which turns organic waste into fertilizer.

Canada exports more than 500 million non-native earthworms annually to other countries, especially the United States.

The main reason for the spread of non-native earthworms in North America is their diet, researchers said in the study.

Native earthworms primarily feed on soil, but nonnative species feed on litter, suggesting that they increase litter decomposition.

Non-native earthworms in broadleaf forests in the United States and Canada stress trees such as sugar maples by changing soil microclimates, which can then facilitate the spread of invasive plants.

Additional increases in litter decomposition—the decomposition of organic materials—can lead to changes in ecological function and biodiversity.

This destruction has already led to a decline in salamander populations in the northeastern United States, according to the study. It added that non-native earthworms can also alter nutrients, pH and soil texture, which, while increasing crop yields, results in poorer crop quality.

The researchers suggest policymakers adjust current laws regarding the spread of non-native earthworms by encouraging people to switch to using native worms for composting and fish bait.

More research is needed to understand the full impact of non-native earthworms on the ecosystem.

“This is likely the tip of the iceberg,” said study co-author John Warren Reynolds of the Laboratory of Oligochaetology and the New Brunswick Museum in Canada. “Many other soil organisms may have been introduced, but we know very little about their impacts.”