Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

1. What is the difference between earthworms and redworms?

2. What is an earthworm's natural habitat?

3. What are castings, and what do they do to help the soil?

4. How do earthworm's bury themselves into the soil?

5. What is a normal life span for an earthworm?

6. What is the general size of an earthworm or redworm?

Hi,

Here's a site that looks as if it will answer most of your questions: http://www.wormdigest.org/content/view/58/2/.

1. What exactly are castings and what do they do to help the soil?

2. What is an earthworms normal habitat?

3. Is there a difference between redworms and earthworms?

4. How do earthworms bury themselves into the soil?

5. What is a normal life span for an earthworm?

6. What is the general size of redworms or earthworms?

Hi Carson,

MelissaB gave you a really informative web site. However, since you posted again, here are some more sites for you to explore:

http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org/fo ... worms.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthworm

http://yucky.discovery.com/flash/worm/pg000102.html

http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/worms/

Good luck with your research!

Heather

Hello,

Although MelissaB and mostman have provided some great sites, remember that the experts here are not here just to provide answers to questions that can be easily searched for on an Internet search engine. Just Google for a few keywords, like "earthworms", "redworms", and "castings". I'm sure that you can find a lot of information that would be beneficial to your project.

Also, when you are comparing between "earthworms" and "redworms", i'm guessing by earthworm you mean nightcrawlers (earthworms you find on the street on rainy days), since redworms are also a type of earthworm. Here is some information about redworms: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisenia_fetida. A comparison between redworms and nightcrawlers is also explained in more detail here: http://www.gartersnake.info/articles/00 ... rms_.phtml.

Hope this helps!

Hello,
This is a very interesting project to work on, here following is a helpful and detailed website on what are earthworms. Hope this helps!
http://www.backyardnature.net/earthwrm.htm

Pankti

I got this from wikipedia....


Earthworm is the common name for the largest members of Oligochaeta (which is either a class or subclass depending on the author) in the phylum Annelida. The earthworm is the most known worm in America, and other countries. In classical systems they were placed in the order Opisthopora, on the basis of the male pores opening posterior to the female pores, even though the internal male segments are anterior to the female. Theoretical cladistic studies have placed them instead in the suborder Lumbricina of the order Haplotaxida, but this may again soon change. Folk names for the earthworm include "dew-worm", "rainworm", "night crawler" and "angleworm" (due to its use as fishing bait).

Earthworms are also called megadriles (or big worms), as opposed to the microdriles (or small worms) in the families Tubificidae, Lumbriculidae, and Enchytraeidae, among others. The megadriles are characterized by having a multilayered clitellum (which is much more obvious than the single-layered one of the microdriles), a vascular system with true capillaries, and male pores behind the female pores.


here too... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisenia_fetida