Dear Mark, I am not an earthworm specialist. I started thinking about earthworms only when it was reported that the casts of earthworms had an unusually high iron content. It was then I realised that the guts of earthworms acted as miniature biogas plants. I would therefore assume that the microbes in the guts of earthworms converted nitrates into ammonia, sulphates into H2S, and cellulose (i.e. carbohydrates) into methane. There might be other chemicals formed by reducing oxidised minerals i (e.g. silicates) nto their reduced forms, but I am ignorant of them. Yours A.D.Karve
On Tue, Sep 30, 2014 at 11:23 PM, Mark Elliott Ludlow <[email protected]> wrote: > Dr. Karve, > > Do you have a list of those positive effects attributable to earth worms, > particularly those in the biochemical transformational mode? > > Thanks, kindly, > > Best, Mark > > -----Original Message----- > From: Gasification [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf Of Anand Karve > Sent: Monday, September 29, 2014 9:58 PM > To: Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification > Subject: Re: [Gasification] Forest Duff & Earthworms - Off Topic ? > > Dear Jeff, > one of the points that is missed in most discussions on earthworms is the > fact that earthworms are miniature biogas plants. Ms Hemangi Jambhekar, a > lady selling earthworm compost as a business, told me that earthworm casts > had unusually high iron content. The soil in our area is rich in iron, but > the iron, being Fe2O3(ferric oxide) is not soluble in water and therefore > soil analysis shows our soils to be poor in iron. When this soil passes > through the gut of an earthworm, the anaerobic micro-organisms in the gut > take a part of the oxygen from the Fe2O3 for their own metabolism and > convert the Fe2O3 into FeO(ferrous oxide), which is water soluble. > Similarly, the casts of worms contain many other organic and inorganic > components of the soil in their reduced form. The reduced compounds serve > the soil microbes as food, because they can oxidise them to obtain energy > for their own metabolism. This causes an increase in the population density > of soil microbes. It is a universally accepted fact that the population > density of soil microbes is positively correlated to soil fertility. > Yours > A.D.Karve > > On Sun, Sep 28, 2014 at 10:29 PM, Jeff Davis <[email protected]> > wrote: >> Kind of off topic: >> >> >> Aren't earthworms good for soil and gardens? >> >> It depends. Earthworms create a soil of a certain consistency. For >> soils that are compacted due to heavy use by agriculture and >> urbanization, for example, earthworm tunnels can create "macro-pores" >> to aid the movement of water through the soil. They also help >> incorporate organic matter into the mineral soil to make more >> nutrients available to plants. However, in agricultural settings >> earthworms can also have harmful effects. For instance, their castings >> (worm excrement) can increase erosion along irrigation ditches. In the >> urban setting, earthworm burrows can cause lumpy lawns. >> >> Relative to simplified ecosystems such as agricultural and >> urban/suburban soils, earthworm-free hardwood forests in Minnesota >> have a naturally loose soil with a thick duff layer. Most of our >> native hardwood forest tree seedlings, wildflowers, and ferns grow >> best in these conditions. However, when earthworms invade they >> actually increase the compaction of hardwood forest soils. Compaction >> decreases water infiltration. Less infiltration combined with the >> removal of the duff and fallen tree leaves results in increased surface > runoff and erosion. >> >> <http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/terrestrialanimals/earthworms/in >> dex.html> >> >> >> >> Jeff >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Gasification mailing list >> >> to Send a Message to the list, use the email address >> [email protected] >> >> to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page >> http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/gasification_lists.bi >> oenergylists.org >> >> for more Gasifiers, News and Information see our web site: >> http://gasifiers.bioenergylists.org/ > > > > -- > *** > Dr. A.D. Karve > Trustee & Founder President, Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI) > > _______________________________________________ > Gasification mailing list > > to Send a Message to the list, use the email address > [email protected] > > to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page > http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/gasification_lists.bioenerg > ylists.org > > for more Gasifiers, News and Information see our web site: > http://gasifiers.bioenergylists.org/ > > > _______________________________________________ > Gasification mailing list > > to Send a Message to the list, use the email address > [email protected] > > to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page > http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/gasification_lists.bioenergylists.org > > for more Gasifiers, News and Information see our web site: > http://gasifiers.bioenergylists.org/ -- *** Dr. A.D. Karve Trustee & Founder President, Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI) _______________________________________________ Gasification mailing list to Send a Message to the list, use the email address [email protected] to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/gasification_lists.bioenergylists.org for more Gasifiers, News and Information see our web site: http://gasifiers.bioenergylists.org/
