Great Lakes Worm Watch: How citizen scientists have documented the distributions of exotic earthworms in the western Great Lakes Region

Background/Question/Methods

Exotic earthworm invasions in cold-temperate hardwood forests of the Great Lakes region are leading to large declines in understory plants, changes in soil structure and function and may threaten their long-term sustainability. The data and observations from professional researchers suggest that large areas of the region remain either earthworm-free or minimally impacted, yet little data exists on the broader geographic distributions of exotic earthworms and earthworm-free sites. Given that sampling sites for earthworms is relatively easy and straightforward, the Great Lakes Worm Watch program enlists citizens across the region and of all ages to participate in the effort to document earthworm distributions. Through training workshops and online resources, the program provides citizens with information related to hardwood forest ecology and exotic earthworm invasions along with detailed instructions on how to conduct surveys and submit data. The program allows citizens to submit data at three different elves of detail depending on their interest and skill level.  

Results/Conclusions

Since its inception in 2001, Great Lakes Worm Watch has received citizen earthworm data from over 176 sites and 130 of those sites (74%) contained reliable earthworm species data and/or preserved specimens where the identification was confirmed. The majority of data submitted thus far has come from Minnesota, with some data beginning to come in from Wisconsin, Michigan, New York and Ohio. Through Great Lakes Worm Watch, dozens of nature centers, citizen science groups and natural resource managers have conducted baseline earthworm studies in Minnesota, and many have established ongoing education and monitoring programs that continue to contribute data and engage the public in authentic scientific efforts. Through these efforts, citizens are contributing real and useful data, that otherwise would not be collected due to the limitations of funding and staff within the professional research community. As the only citizen science program dedicated to earthworms in the United States, we have so far collected data from more sites than all published reports from academic institutions, making this the largest database in existence on the distribution of earthworms in the U.S. and specifically the Great Lakes Region. Not only are we contributing to basic knowledge on earthworm distributions, but we are demonstrating the potential for citizen scientists to significantly contribute to these efforts.