“Humble” and “lowly” are the words traditionally paired with “worm”, and unless you have an interest in making compost, the earthworm may have entirely escaped your attention. Well, maybe it’s time to take notice. Thousands of scientists around the globe certainly are: they are using earthworms in anything from biomedical research to environmental monitoring. Earthworms are now regarded as “one of the world’s keystone organisms”.
Who says so? The huge crowd of biologists who gathered in Cardiff last week for the International Symposium on Earthworm Ecology. They have every right to be proud about their worms. Charles Darwin himself said:…
