Invasive earthworms

I have been catching up on some reading this week. An article in Scientific American (March 2009) might be interesting to those who fish or garden. The article's author has a copy at:
www.michaeltennesen.com/pdfs/sciam_worms_tennesen.pdf

Essentially it explains that after the last ice age the forests around the Great Lakes developed without earthworms. And now that people are moving earthworms around as fish bait, in vehicle mud and in compost it has been discovered that certain non-native worms (such as the "night crawler") eat up the dead leafs which are needed for new trees to grow. The article says, "As a result, some northern hardwood forests that once had a lush understory now have but a single species of native herb and virtually no tree seedlings."

Needless to say, it is impossible to eradicate worms so if you fish with worms, you now need to know if the species is foreign or native, or at the very least, don't let any escape. The article also points out that the idea of a community compost sounded like a good idea but now it is just a highly effective way to disperse the problematic critters.
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