{"id":4770,"date":"2009-08-05T18:15:11","date_gmt":"2009-08-06T00:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=4770"},"modified":"2009-08-05T18:15:11","modified_gmt":"2009-08-06T00:15:11","slug":"earthworms-do-they-help-or-hurt-in-terms-of-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/earthworms-do-they-help-or-hurt-in-terms-of-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Earthworms: Do They Help or Hurt in Terms of Climate Change?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

[social_buttons]<\/p>\n

Every once in a while I come across something in the scientific literature that really surprises me. \u00a0Because there isn’t much oxygen in a worm gut, it\u00a0creates\u00a0the ideal conditions for these particular microbes (“de-nitrifiers”) to turn nitrate (NO3) into nitrogen gas and also generate some nitrous oxide in the process.<\/a><\/p>\n

Nitrous Oxide<\/h3>\n

Ok, some background. Nitrous oxide<\/a> (N2O) is a very potent greenhouse gas with 310 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide. Its really an Achilles heel for agricultural sustainability because around 80% of the human-generated emissions of this gas come from farms. If even a small amount of the farmer’s nitrogen fertilizer gets converted to N2O it becomes a major part of the total carbon footprint<\/a> of that field
\n<\/p>\n

As the Worm Turns<\/h3>\n

We generally think of earthworms<\/a> as a sign of a good, healthy soil<\/a> because they are beneficial in creating channels in the soil for air and water to move. \u00a0One good thing about the very sustainable form of farming called no-till<\/a> is that when it is practiced, earthworm populations increase. \u00a0But what about this N2O issue? \u00a0One scientists calls worms a “mobile anoxic microzone<\/a>” and another estimates that one third<\/a> of the N2O released from a soil is generated inside of worms.<\/p>\n

Not to Worry<\/h3>\n

So I scanned the scientific literature about nitrous oxide from no-till and conventionally tilled farm soils. \u00a0I was relieved to find that the emissions are\u00a0no higher<\/a> and often\u00a0lower<\/a> with no-till except on\u00a0very poorly aerated soils<\/a>. \u00a0So it seems that earthworms are both part of the problem and part of the solution when it comes to climate change.<\/p>\n

So if you find earthworms out in your garden or compost pile, don’t hurt them. \u00a0They are probably still good on the whole.<\/p>\n

Earthworm photo from schizoform.<\/a> via Flickr under Creative Commons License
\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[social_buttons] Every once in a while I come across something in the scientific literature that really surprises me. \u00a0Because there isn’t much oxygen in a worm gut, it\u00a0creates\u00a0the ideal conditions [ … ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":4784,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,1],"tags":[18,133,3714,3715,3362,3716],"yoast_head":"\nEarthworms: Do They Help or Hurt in Terms of Climate Change? • Sustainablog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/earthworms-do-they-help-or-hurt-in-terms-of-climate-change\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Earthworms: Do They Help or Hurt in Terms of Climate Change? 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