• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

		The Nature Conservancy in Washington Washington Home Donate Now Places We Protect Volunteer Ways of Giving News Room About Washington Contact Us

Worms found high in northwest forests

"Look, up high! It's a bird. It's a plane. It's... a worm!"

Don't miss the photos and movie below.

Annelid worm found in the tree canopy at Teal Slough, near Ellsworth Creek.          photo Yoav Bar-Ness/TNC

This fall a team of researchers from The Nature Conservancy spent time high in the trees at the Conservancy's Ellsworth Creek Preserve and nearby forests in the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge. They were collecting insects to create a record of the forest's biological diversity, and to compare old stands with those that have been cut and are growing back. They expected to find moss, leaves, lichen, cool bugs, maybe even a nest that had been used by marbled murrelets. They weren't expecting to find an earthworm 120 feet above the forest floor.

"It's novel." That's what Yoav Bar-Ness says about the discovery of an annelid worm -- similar to earthworms you've probably seen -- in a mat of moss on a branch of a tall spruce tree. Bar-Ness lead the team doing the insect diversity study for the Conservancy this year. They conducted their surveys in the Ellsworth Creek Preserve and the adjacent Refuge in southwest Washington, including a place called Teal Slough -- a property the Conservancy was able to protect and transfer to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, forever preserving a vibrant remnant of old-growth forest and coastal wetland. During a climb into the canopy at the slough they discovered a segmented worm about the length of a quarter coin living in what can only be described as soil, atop a high tree branch.

"It's exciting to think of a real soil community way up in the tree canopy," said Bar-Ness. For him, the discovery of such a creature demonstrates how rich and complex the canopy world can be. "Worms are the big soil converters. Their job is to munch up plant material and turn it into soil. But I didn't expect to find them at work way up there."

So where did it come from? Did it live its whole life up in the trees? Are there others? Is it a new species? Even for researchers who've spent lots of time exploring our forests, there are many unanswered questions. Adding to the excitement, University of Washington forestry grad student Royce Anderson discovered several worms high in trees in an Olympic National Park rain forest soon after the Ellsworth crew made their discovery. Both researchers are now sending their specimens to Jodi Johnson-Maynard, an Assistant Professor of Soil and Water Quality at the University of Idaho at Moscow. Professor Johnson-Maynard is an earthworm expert, and has been involved in the search for the Palouse giant earthworm. Worms have been found in canopy soil in the tropics, and even in redwood and spruce trees in northern California, but this may be a first for Washington. Some of the scientists who have seen these worms high in the trees suspect that they are crawling up from the ground, but this has not been confirmed.

So we will have to wait to learn just what's "up" with the canopy worms...

Climbing into the Spruce tree where a worm was found. photo Yoav Bar-Ness/TNC 

The worm!  photo Yoav Bar-Ness/TNC 

A University of Washington forestry grad student found canopy worms
in this old tree in Olympic National Park. photo Royce Anderson

Researcher Royce Anderson climbing into the canopy. About 60 meters up
he found 7 worms in a 10 cm diameter by 10 cm deep core from a mat of
moss and soil on a tree branch. photo Steven Campbell

Climber Steven Campbell is at ease in the forest canopy. photo Royce Anderson

The canopy perspective. Notice the thick mat of moss on the tree branch.
Prime habitat for canopy worms? photo Royce Anderson

 

 

Click in the square below to activate a Google video!

A day in the life of tree canopy researchers.
Nature Conservancy scientists have traveled into the trees
at Ellsworth Creek to study the diversity of life there.