About This Project
For centuries, scientists noted earthworms' exploits as ecosystem engineers. Recent research shows the feasibility of carbon dioxide reduction (CDR) at the Gt/yr (~1 t/ha/yr) scale via worm-work. Farmers associate earthworms with soil health–bridging adoption aspects that can stymie CDR solutions. We propose a research plan to scope a new scaling pathway using earthworms acclimatized to specific growing zones to inoculate working lands with native worms and demonstrate accelerated CDR.
Ask the Scientists
Join The DiscussionMotivating Factor
Land-based carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategies with natural analogs (e.g., enhanced rock weathering [ERW], soil carbon sequestration) upscale and accelerate C-sequestration beyond natural rates. Land-based CDR substitutes natural biophysical processes with mechanical, energy-expensive techniques. Re-integrating biology into land-based CDR [1] could improve these strategies’ effectiveness, exploit synergies, and mitigate tradeoffs [2, 3].
Not only are earthworms farmers’ best friends because they decrease compaction, runoff, and soil erosion; eat microplastics [4,5]; and improve germination and crop yields [6,7], but they also perform multiple CDR functions (“worm-work”). Earthworms’ feats of climate-engineering [8,9]–honed by evolution over hundreds of millions of years–include grinding and dissolving minerals (ERW)[10], excreting alkalinity as carbonate [11], and supercharging soil particles with stable carbon [12][13] and beneficial gut bacteria [14,15].
Specific Bottleneck
Lab studies have demonstrated worms’ positive effects on ERW and organic C sequestration [16, 17]. However, recent ERW studies underscore the challenges of keeping earthworms alive ex situ [18, 19]. If worms don’t survive, how can they work?
Compelling evidence of worm-work CDR has emerged from field studies, including directed manipulations [20], natural gradients [21], and inadvertent experiments (e.g., human-mediated dispersal of earthworms into worm-free ecosystems; [22]). While these studies provide important constraints on process rates, we don’t yet know how high rates can get under optimal conditions. To unleash worm-work for CDR, we need an understanding of how worm-work rates scale with species-specific condition suitability, as well as associated costs.
Most lab and field studies of worm-work have focused on European species. Unstudied native species are likely more tolerant of warm lab and field conditions, but have so far been valued only as bait, if at all [23].
Actionable Goals
De-risking worm-work as a serious component of land-based CDR strategies requires:
A roadmap for quantitatively improving earthworm vitality from lab to field
Measuring the multiple CDR-relevant dimensions of worm-work (e.g., effects on organic and inorganic C sequestration and gas fluxes) as a function of environmental conditions (temperature, moisture, light, and mineral and organic substrates)
Holistic assessment of potential local to global impacts of worm-work intensification, including both co-benefits and possible undesirable outcomes
Work that enables synergies among CDR strategies and more process-based MMRV will be especially fruitful and provide a more robust basis for scaling.
Budget
We received a 1-year <$100k seed-data grant that expires in April 2025 that paid for preliminary work exploring earthworm (gut) methanotrophic bacteria.
This (new) grant proposal aims to scope scaling solutions for native eathworm CDR solutions.
Meet the Team
Affiliates
Affiliates
Jane Willenbring
https://scholar.google.com/cit...
I’m a broadly-trained geologist specializing in geomorphology, geochemistry and soil science. The focus of my research is understanding life and landscape linkages. The geochemical tools my research group and I use and develop often include cosmogenic nuclide systems, which provide powerful methods to constrain rates of erosion, carbon cycling and mineral weathering. Recently, I have shifted most of my research focus to climate adaptation and greenhouse gas reduction. One of my career goals is to remove 1 Gton of carbon dioxide (or equivalent) from the atmosphere as a direct result of my and my group’s research.
I grew up on a subsistence farm in rural North Dakota. My BSci in Geosciences/Soil Science is from North Dakota State University. I went to Boston University (Masters) and Dalhousie University (PhD) to study ice sheet and glacier responses to climate change. I did postdoctoral research on soil erosion from farmlands, river erosion and mineral weathering at the National Center for Earth Surface Dynamics at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities campus, University of Hannover, Germany, and the German Center for Geosciences. I was previously an Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, then was recruited by Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego where I was director of the Scripps Cosmogenic Isotope Lab and Associate Professor in the Geosciences Research Division and Thomas and Evelyn Page Chancellor's Endowed Faculty Fellow. I joined the Stanford faculty as an Associate Professor in 2020 as a Gabilan Faculty Fellow. I am part of the inaugural cohort of the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accelerator and a Stanford Impact Lab Fellow.
Nate Looker
I'm a soil scientist working to translate our understanding of complex landscapes into actionable strategies for enhancing and quantifying carbon dioxide removal and other ecosystem services. Prior to joining the Life & Landscapes Lab, I was a Research Soil Scientist with the nonprofit Soil Health Institute, where I was the lead scientist for a program setting benchmarks for soil health and organic carbon across the U.S. Cotton Belt. I also developed open-source tools to make soil health measurements more accessible. For my Ph.D. in Land & Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Minnesota, I studied the interactive effects of mineral weathering, climate, and land use on soil carbon dynamics in working landscapes of Mexico. I was a Department of Energy SCGSR Fellow at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. I am originally from Iowa and have a background in agronomy, international development, and ecohydrology, with a bachelor's from Iowa State University and a master’s from Montana State University.
Adrian A. Wackett
I was born and raised in Saint Paul, Minnesota (unceded Wahpekute/Dakota lands). I double majored in Chemistry and Geosciences at Trinity University (TX) before returning to Saint Paul and completing my M.S. degree in Land and Atmospheric Sciences (specifically pedology and biogeochemistry) at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, where I studied global w'o'rming. Before coming to Stanford as an NSF GRFP Fellow I traveled extensively through Latin America and SE Asia (by bike) and worked as an independent researcher affiliated with the Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences at Umeå University and the Climate Impacts Research Centre in Abisko, Sweden. I’m passionate about exploring the interconnectedness of Earth’s systems through my research and am equally passionate about looking beyond academia to cultivate enduring relationships with the lands and peoples I work with. Previous topics of inquiry include coupling ant bioturbation to the erosion and weathering of hillslope soils in SE Australia, exploring earthworm invasions and their deterministic effects on soil carbon dynamics in Fennoscandian and Alaskan forests, and examining the biogeochemical diversity of ‘black smoker’ plume particles at deep-sea hydrothermal vents. My dissertation focuses on using an array of radionuclide tracers and synchrotron-based X-ray approaches to explore how landscapes record and respond to an array of disturbance agents, from biological invasions in Earth’s northern biomes to extreme storm events in Puerto Rico to cultural burning and wildfires here in California. Some of my preliminary findings indicate that earthworms have profound (but time-dependent) impacts on soil carbon storage and that earthworms can accelerate the weathering of silicate minerals in tropical soils by a factor of 1,000–10,000x.
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