University of Georgia. Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health.

Provides state, county, point and GIS data. Maps can be downloaded and shared.

USDA. FS. Southern Research Station. CompassLive.

A worm is a worm is a worm, right? Except that there are more than 7,000 species of worms, and the longer you look, the more complex their world becomes. Earthworms compete. Earthworms invade. Earthworms… jump?

USDA. FS. Southern Research Station. CompassLive.

Imagine walking through a forest, with leaves crunching beneath your feet. Underneath those crunchy leaves is a complex ecological realm. “Soil is teeming with life,” says U.S. Forest Service research ecologist Mac Callaham. “Most people don’t think about it because they don’t see the soil fauna.” Soil fauna includes centipedes, millipedes, springtails, nematodes, insect larvae, and earthworms. “Springtails are very small arthropods,” says SRS ecologist Melanie Taylor. “Earthworms are the giants of soil fauna.” Taylor, Callaham, and lead author Meixiang Gao recently published a study on non-native earthworms and the food web. The study was published in the journal Soil Biology and Biochemistry.