How To Learn About Earthworms
Not How To Eat Fried Worms
Objectives
Background Info
It's scientific name is Lumbricus terrestris. Their habitat is in soil of meadows, woods, stream banks, and lawns. Earthworm's predatorsare ants, mites, centipedes, birds, rats, mice, and snakes. They prey on dead plant material, some living plants, manure, and dead animals. Their niche is to break down dead matter and act as decomposers. For ecological advantages they formed a stream line body with setae that help the worm move though the soil. The earthworm ejects its pharynx from its mouth in order to obtain food.
Taxonomy
Taxonomy of the earthworm is kingdom Animalia,phylum Annelid, class Clitellata, order Haplotaxida, family Lambricicdae, genus Lumbricus, and species Terrestris.
Human Interaction
Earthworms help increase soil fertility by breaking down the soil.
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Evolution
- An earthworm has a streamlined body with no antennae or fins or arms or legs! This streamlined shape is an adaptation to living in narrow burrows underground and the need to move easily through the soil.
- Many earthworms secrete a mucus (coelomic fluid) that helps them to move more easily through the soil.
Circulatory System
The earthworm like many more complex organisms has a closed circulatory system, meaning that its blood is confined to blood vessels and its blood is recirculated so it gets maximum use. An earthworm has neither lungs nor gills but uses its body's great surface area to absorb oxygen from the soil. The oxygen is taken in by the dorsal blood vessel and travels to the five aortic arches (hearts) by the esophogus where it is pumped to the lower, ventral blood vessel. The ventral blood vessel pumps the blood to all segments and organs in need of oxygen. In each segment, there is a small blood vessel that sends the blood from the ventral blood vessel back to the dorsal blood vessel, thus completing the loop (Musurca).
Facts
Charles Darwin spent 39 years studying earthworms more than 100 years ago.
Worms are cold-blooded animals.
Worms can eat their weight each day
Citations
http://groundtoground.org/2012/07/15/a-worm-in-the-hand/
http://standardnote.blogspot.com/p/practical.html
http://quizlet.com/22147274/earthworm-structures-functions-flash-cards/
http://www.angelfire.com/de2/atoy/cir.htm
http://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/Science-Stories/Earthworms/Earthworm-adaptations