Invasive Species Spotlight: Jumping Worms
Monday, March 11th, 2024
6:30 pm to 8:30 pm (Eastern Time)
Online/Virtual via Zoom • Registration Required
- Public Welcome
- Free Event
Presented by Shelby Lane-Clark, Applied Biologist
Jumping worms (Amynthas agrestis, Amynthas tokioensis and Metaphire hilgendorfi species) are an invasive species of worm native to southeast Asia. They were first reported in Michigan in Oakland County in 2008. It is now believed they could be widespread in the Lower Peninsula. Jumping worms consume large amounts of leaf litter and displace or out-compete our native species, not just native earthworms, but also native insects, ground nesting birds, and salamanders. Shelby will describe the lifecycle of jumping worms, as well as what can be done to control and prevent them.
Asian Jumping Worm (Amynthas agrestis)
Photo by John Abrams, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Shelby Nicole Lane-Clark is an applied ecologist. She holds a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from the University of Michigan-Flint and recently graduated in 2023 with a master’s degree in forest ecology and management from Michigan Technological University. Her thesis focused on the impacts of introduced earthworms on sugar maple forests in the Great Lakes region and the implications this has for sugar maple forests in the Great Lakes region and the implications this has for sugar maple sap chemistry. She now works with the Detroit Zoological Society doing environmental-based outreach to high school students in her community.
