Multimedia Reporting (Bradford-Utsler)

Walk into a scientist’s laboratory and you’re bound to hear anything. Earthworm poop was the topic of discussion for two researchers Sam James and Steve Hasiotis last week. James the biologist and research associate at KU’s Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center, and Hasiotis the geologist, were engaged in an exchange about the creatures burrowing habits and fecal deposits. A topic perhaps left untouched by most researchers.

“Most people concentrate on the front end and what type of grass worms eat. I thought, well what about all the grass that comes out the other end?” James said.

Photo contributed by George Brown. KU biologist Sam James specializes in earthworm taxonomy and ecology. He travels the world searching for earthworms to classify them and study their relationship with North American grasslands. He is responsible for the discovery of an earthworm called Fimoscolex sporadochaetus in Brazil that was declared extinct in 2003. There are about 4,000 named species. He has 400 un-named species in his laboratory now.

Hasiotis had to take advantage of James’ expertise while he was on campus, a place James rarely visits. Instead, he is digging in the world’s soils in places such as the Philippines, the Caribbean and Fiji. James recently re-discovered an earthworm called Fimoscolex sporadochaetus in Brazil that was declared extinct in 2003. The earthworm he found in Belo Horizonte no one had bothered to look at for years he said.

“Just because something is declared extinct doesn’t mean it is, it just means no one has gone to look for it,” James said.

His long-standing work partner, George Brown, researcher for the Brazilian Corporation for Agricultural Research, tipped him off on this search. Brown continues to seek James' help because there is not an earthworm taxonomist in Brazil.

Photo Contributed by George Brown. Sam James and colleague George Brown work with students from the State University of Lodrina in Belo Horizonte, Brazil studying earthworm taxonomy.

“George gets pissed off when people don’t look for something new before they start calling it extinct,” James said. “When you don’t see large animals anymore, then yeah they are probably extinct, but in a small forested area there could be hundreds and thousands of worms.”

Brown said that it is important to find representatives of all earthworm species because they have many effects on the soil and plant communities, which provide nutrition to crops, cattle and in turn human beings. He said that understanding what they do is just a step. Understanding who they are and how to classify them is the first.

There are over 4,000 species worldwide and James sets out to find representatives of each species and also collects worms that may not be classified. He has about 400 un-named worms in his laboratory now. Based on where researchers have already gone, he heads a different direction.

"Sam is one of those adventure type persons who is not afraid to go to far away places and walk to the middle of nowhere to dig for worms," Brown said, "something that is increasingly necessary to find new species."

James’ interest in the interactions between North America’s grasses and grazers led him down the dirty path of earthworm ecology. Earthworms are his link to understanding how the grasslands have thrived in the country.

As a child growing up in Iowa, he used earthworms for bait when he went fishing. He doesn’t mind people using them for bait but he does care if they are being over-exploited. Florida and Brazil have this problem and the earthworm’s there are in danger of extinction. The baiting industry is regulated in Florida now he said, but it is not in Brazil although it is illegal to gather wildlife without a permit. The baiting rebels pushing their luck are helping James in a way.

“We see signs on the road that say ‘We Sell Earthworms’ so we stop, look and we’ll buy them if they are interesting. And we preserve them,” he said. “We ask where they got them but they won’t always tell us.”

Mapquest James and Brown are responsible for classifying earthworms in much of southern Brazil. There is no earthworm taxonomist in the country so James' expertise is highly valued.

So James and his colleagues go on pursuits to find them. Where they may end up is on someone’s private property. This has stirred up more than just the owners land. The owners are fed up with people digging for fish bait so they want something to kill the worms to prevent people from coming at all. This scares James.

“I’ll have to think of something that could safely get the worms out. An old remedy of hot mustard and water may work,” he ponders.

Though earthworms can provide an abundance of help to further various research such as arthritis therapy, some people find it hard to believe anyone could make a living digging in the dirt. James recalls a trip to southwest Texas where he was met with such criticism.

Avoiding the dismal motel room, he found a construction crew outside with the same idea. Within minutes, James realized they were far from like-minded. After all, the crew was there to dig into the earth to put in a gas pipeline and James was there digging for earthworms.

The crew drank beer while James obliged them and listened to their hunting stories. This may have gone on until the question came up, “So what do you do Sam?” The conversation then quickly took a turn.

“One guy kept getting drunker and madder. He was mad that I could actually make a living digging for earthworms and that I work for a university,” he said.

“Maybe it is a rural male thing, but not one wants to seem like they are interested in formal education. It is almost taboo. And these guys were representatives of that,” James said.

He was asked “When are you going to get a real job?” To which James replied, “I hope I don’t have to.”

James was forewarned he would be met with skepticism when he went to a communal village in Fiji. Any village outsiders are traditionally considered bad. Fortunately, he was told to bring a peace offering of Kava roots, an ancient crop of the western Pacific. With another professor and guide, James went to the village chief’s home to present him and his son with the offering. The chief inspected the roots wrapped in colorful ribbon and sang a traditional chant to acknowledge the peace offering.

Villagers crush the root and boil it in water to drink and feel its narcotic effects. He said after they drank and passed it around for a while they started to sing, and then they stopped and it was silent. In the distance, the neighboring village began to gently sing like a lullaby and the two communities took turns all night he fondly recalls. He is now a permanent friend of the village and is not required to bring the Kava root if he returns, but he said he probably would just in case they forgot.

Aside from his Fiji friends, James finds support from 200 other worm researchers he visits every four years at an International Earth Worm Meeting. This year’s weeklong convention is going to be held in Krakow, Poland. The Eighth International Symposium on Earthworm Ecology

Within a week, James will be walking along the Louisiana coast for specimens before going to finish his work in the Philippines where he has worked extensively and intermittently over the past few years. His family of four accompanied him for six months during one of his visits in 2001. They assisted him in his search in the remote woods.

James' wife Joy said he is the best person to travel with because he observes more than the average person. Though they may not always get to share in the knowledge because James takes off on his wild worm chase. She said once he starts a project he just keeps going and doesn’t really need to stop to eat and drink. Eight hours climbing mountains in the rain forest without rest and food was a bit much for her and the kids however.

“My oldest daughter Pearl got in a bush that was covered with leeches and she screamed, ‘I’m covered with leeches’ and at the same time we could hear Sam up ahead yelling, ‘I got a worm! I got a big worm!’” she recounted. “It’s always like that in a way, there is always this kind of thing going on.”

If he had to do it all over again he said he would be a geologist and not a biologist.

“I would do geology and spend all day looking for rocks. Wandering for worms is pretty much similar in some ways though.”

For now, this KU researcher will continue trail blazing digging for earthworms, the link to the world above.