How Do Worms Turn Garbage into Compost?

This week Reactions dug our hands into some earthworm science. Some pretty useful chemistry comes out of these little critters in the form of compost. If you’re enjoying some tasty food today that has at least one ingredient that was farmed somewhere, you probably owe a little thanks to earthworms. How is it that these detritivores – literally dirt eaters – turn what humans find inedible into beloved compost? After the biology and physics of swallowing and “chewing”, like us it’s all chemistry for digestion. But earthworms have an extra enzyme that allows them to munch through cellulose, the ultimate fiber of that makes tree bark a non-starter in human diets. Yet all this powerful chemistry means not everyone sees earthworms as the greatest creature to crawl – find out all the dirt in this video.

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Writer:
Sam Lemonick

Narrator/Scientific Consultant/Co-writer:
Darcy Gentleman, Ph.D.

Scientific Consultant:
Kyle Nackers

Executive Producer:
Adam Dylewski

Video Producer:
Sean Parsons

Music:
Bomba_Pa_Siempre
Cumbia_No_Frills_Faster
Walk_the_Dog
Walk_With_Me

Sources:

Calcium secretion

this last reference, published in 2011, contains the line “ The function 16 that these granules serve for the earthworm is unknown (Darwin, 1881; Robertson, 1936; 17 Piearce, 1972; Briones et al., 2008) but previous studies have shown that earthworm granules 18 are commonplace in soils (Ponomareva, 1948; Wiecek and Messenger, 1972; Bal, 1977; 19 Canti, 1998)”
(preprint pdf [?] here

Megadrile biological classification

Nitrogen cycle to understand bacteria role

Ever wonder why dogs sniff each others' butts? Or how Adderall works? Or whether it's OK to pee in the pool? We've got you covered: Reactions a web series about the chemistry that surrounds you every day.

Reactions is produced by the American Chemical Society.

[ashleymonahan]

I don't know what kind of research y'all could do on this, but there is a caterpillar known as the Marius Hairstreaks that turns the color of the flowers it eats. I'd love to know how on earth the chemistry of that works!

[daenerystargaryen]

Thank you for this great and information rich video.

[astridoasis]

you didn't mention that the worms are also eating the juicy microbes that are also decomposing plant debris...worms don't do it all by themselves

[edwardjnarrojr]

I have a two pet worms I call Abbott and Costello

[Anirvan_SanataniBoy]

Anyone here just shivered by watching this organisms😨😨😨

[amwartwork]

i us3d worm tea this year and made a huge difference to evrything im. growing.

[TheThagenesis]

would be cool if you could do something on nature's toxins. be it snake venom or nicotine. I think pretty much anything can be interesting

[edwardjnarrojr]

These little gritters Sure look familiar. Some are white with red horn's. I Know where They gather.

[jamessparkman]

Hey can you ask people to make a compost yard

[drstew]

My problem with Darwin mentions are it’s not open to skeletons dug up from thousands of years ago. Or giant ones either...

[edwardjnarrojr]

Don't let these little things into your Gut

[HiItsSalty]

so how do the invasive earth worms be harmful?

[DjSerolmp]

Who else watched that worm just poop away at the 3:12sec mark? #goldshot

[albertoguerrero]

Literally here because I asked my wife, if I was a worm would she still love me

[spotlitetrans]

*Hi there, we are from Spotlite Trans 7, Indonesia. We would like to ask for permission to use ur youtube videos for our show. We will put credit title for ur channel and footage.*
*Best regards, *
*Spotlite Team*

[Worm_Turf]

I woud like to speak w you about your video.

[stephenpaul]

And we still haven't gotten too all of nature creatures .but good video of my buddies the worms for fishing

[woodrowelias]

Find what u said at start of ur video offensive

[kelleywest]

I have 2 pet worms that I take care of.

[melodyliu]

Hi is there a chemical formula for this