Twenty years ago Dr Robert Blakemore had recently arrived in Tasmania and had identified and named more than 200 native varieties of earthworm subsisting in Tasmania.
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He was living in Invermay and appeared on the front page of The Examiner because of a universally significant discovery - a lumbricus terrestrius, the worm that launched the study of the slimy, earthbound, but important invertebrates.
His discovery was one of sheer excitement and inspired him to label Tasmania as the pinnacle of worm passion destinations.
Overall Dr Blakemore had identified 228 worms in Tasmania making it one of the most worm rich locations in the world.
In the space of just one week surveying Lake Pedder in the state's South-West he found 21 new and known species of worm.
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It would likely have been 22 species had the Lake Pedder earthworm not been classified extinct in 1972 after the area was submerged under 15 metres of water as the Middle Gordon Hydro-electric project commenced.
Since then Dr Blakemore has continued his study of worms and said he is one of the very few still concerned with sustaining their existence.
Now, Dr Blakemore is as worried about the welfare of worms as ever and said their plight is more critical to maintaining the equilibrium of earth's ecosystem than even the much talked about bumblebee.
"It is easily argued that the worms are the most important group of organisms that we will lose at our peril," he said. "Of course it is sad and tragic when a bee or koala dies, but when the worms are gone we are all done for.
"This is not just me, the United Nations says we have 10 years to fix the climate, and the only way to do this is to sequester carbon in soils with the help of our friends the wriggly worms."
Forty years of Dr Blakemore's life have been dedicated to fighting for the plight of the worm but his concerns have increased as his studies have shown him that soil around the world is reducing. "There is perhaps 30 to 60 years of topsoil left for us to grow crops. This is the greatest global challenge," he said.
DR BLAKEMORE'S RESEARCH: Tasmanian Earthworms 2000-2020
"2,000 tonnes per second of irreplaceable topsoil are being lost per second. The worms are gone too. Often I can go into an intensive chemical field and not find any worms. Used to be that seagulls or ibises, in Queensland, or all kinds of birds would follow a plow, but this does not happen anymore.
"Not just because we are moving away from tillage, but because the soils are becoming sterile."
Dr Blakemore said this loss of topsoil has had a stark impact on earthworms the world over.
"My own modest studies have reported three species of earthworms extinct, one each from Tas, NZ and Japan, and my International Union for Conservation of Nature red list inventory for NZ and Japan found about 30% of all species either endangered in some way and many already likely extinct," he said.
"The problem, globally as well as locally in Tasmania, is that no-one is doing the ground work."
But Tasmania could be the place that earthworms begin to fight back.
Dr Blakemore chose to come to Tasmania around 2000 very specifically.
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"Tasmania truly is a unique Wonder in the World for its biodiversity and complexity. If you look at a soil map the patchwork variety in such a small area is remarkable," he said.
"This is overlain by a quilt of ancient and introduced vegetation, that also changes seasonally.
"Earthworms are the natural nexus between the soils and plants and these three components are also in a synchronised polka dance with the microbes."
Dr Blakemore said there is not much ongoing research or knowledge about earthworms and soil ecology throughout the world, but encouraged Tasmanians to get out and do some discovering for themselves - just as he did in Invermay.
"It is the most wondrous world and like a lucky dip. You will have Tasmanian natives that have been around happily doing their thing from ages well before the dinosaurs, translocated natives from the mainland or other parts of Tassie, to exotic interlopers from all around the world," he said.
"These can be New Zealand species drifting over on debris, or those likely brought in incidentally by the likes of Captain William Blight who in 1788 planted seven apple trees at Adventure Bay. The worm I found in my garden in Invermay in 1997 was maybe from him."
But identifying the worms one may find in their backyard is the next problem. Dr Blakemore said the only real way to tell one worm from another is through dissection by a professional.
Still, he said it could be possible to at least learn something more than the average backyard gardener by looking closely.
"It is easy for a novice or student to put an earthworm to its family group on some features and by their behaviour," he said.
He said by doing so individuals could contribute to "saving the worm".
"A good place to start is in your garden and looking after our humble earthworms," he said.
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