Just scratching the surface
A few research groups in the southern states began to document
earthworm fauna ‘on-farm’ in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but
it was apparent that more regions required analysis if we were
to yield truly representative data. However, the sheer volume of
soil to be hand-sorted, and the cost of doing so, was prohibitive.
Australia’s unique and diverse fauna and flora exists in both
disturbed and natural landscapes across a huge land mass.
A dilemma we face is the scarcity of professional biologists
available to tackle the many ecological questions that require
answers. Perhaps unsurprisingly, cryptic ‘less attractive’ soil
fauna often gets ignored. Soil invertebrates are the poor cousins
of the biological world, attracting only occasional public interest
(for example, the media attention and subsequent research dung
beetles received in the 1970s because of their capacity to reduce
fly numbers). Novel projects that could entice laypeople to
survey invertebrates across a larger area seemed a way to quickly
increase data collection.
We recognised that urban gardens were especially likely
to provide ‘hot spots’ for earthworm diversity. Gardens, after
all, receive extra watering, and enhanced soil fertility should
encourage higher earthworm numbers there. Invasive species
were considered likely to become established in such areas first,
having hitchhiked along with the activities of humans. We also
hoped that, despite the inevitable disturbance experienced in
urban gardens, native earthworm species might survive there,
too. Our mission: enlist the ‘gardeners’. It was suggested that the
CSIRO Double Helix Science Club might be able to help.
Kids on the case
Double Helix was first a science club but is now a subscription-
based magazine designed to stimulate scientific interest in
children aged eight and over. For more than 30 years it has
encouraged voluntary participation in scientific projects run
by CSIRO staff and other organisations. One such cooperative
effort was ‘Earthworms Downunder’ (EWDU) in 1992 – a
national earthworm survey involving some 1450 Double Helix
club members. A truly collective effort, the initiative can be
considered a forerunner to the citizen science movement now
sweeping the world – even if the phrase was then decades away
from being coined.
Each participant received a ‘sampling kit’ detailing when and
how to collect earthworms near their home, as well as data
sheets, a guide to the earthworms we considered most likely to
be found, specimen tubes, a magnifying glass, and a reusable
padded post bag to post specimens and data to CSIRO. Project
staff identified the specimens sent in (as far as was possible –
several native species couldn’t be identified), and the results of
the survey were relayed back to members via the club’s regular
magazine, The Helix – as it was then known.
It is easy to retrospectively pinpoint some of the project’s
achievements. Perhaps some of the original participants are
reading this article, 25 years later, as scientists or passionate
naturalists (please send a letter to the editor if that is the
case)! At the time, it attracted widespread media attention andPhoto: Michael Coghlan [CC]
The cover of CSIRO’s The Helix magazine featured Katherine
Barker, a 15-year-old participant in Earthworms Downunder,
in September 1992. Photo: Geoff BakerIntroduced Lumbricus terrestris is sometimes called
the ‘night crawler’. Found occasionally in northern
Tasmania, it is a deep-burrowing species that can
grow up to 25 cm long. Like all worms, it burrows
through the earth with the use of tiny bristles known
as ‘setae’, which it uses to grip the soil, and specialist
musculature in the segmented body wall that can be
contracted and relaxed. Photo: Donald Hobern12 | Wildlife Australia | SPRING 2017