What Darwin Saw Beneath Our Feet — Dirt Factory

What Darwin Saw Beneath Our Feet — Dirt Factory

For most of my life I assumed worms were simply good—good for gardens, good for compost, good for the planet. They seemed like harmless helpers, ploughing soil invisibly and giving quiet life to whatever grew above them. The reality, like the soil itself, is knottier. In northern hardwood forests, European earthworms brought in fishing bait or plant material have stripped away the thick leaf-litter blanket that native plants need, altering entir…