UMN researchers enlist citizens in the fight against jumping worms

An invasive pest is quietly moving through Minnesota’s forests and gardens transforming the nutrient-dense top layer of soil into a loose texture that looks like cat-litter or coffee grounds. 

Jumping worms, a group of invasive earthworms known for their leaping, snake-like movement, were first discovered in Minnesota in 2006. Since their introduction, these worms have been documented in the southeast portion of Minnesota up through the metro area and as far north as the St. Cloud area.

A hand holding soil aggregates that have been altered by jumping worms
Jumping worms transform the soil texture to a loose structure of aggregates that looks like cat-litter or coffee grounds. 

Jumping worms destroy the O horizon of the soil and change the soil texture into a loose structure of aggregates, stripping the soil of its nutrients and triggering massive erosion. These changes to the soil have cascading effects across the ecosystem - plant growth is threatened, soil community biodiversity is decreased, and many native plants can no longer survive in the changed soil structure.

An interdisciplinary team of researchers at the Minnesota Invasive Terrestrial Plants and Pests Center is studying how jumping worms spread and impact our state’s ecosystems as well as developing techniques to manage jumping worms and minimize negative impacts in the state.

Kyungsoo Yoo, professor in the Department of Soil, Water and Climate, is characterizing different earthworm populations inhabiting crop fields, forest-agriculture edges, recreational sites, and forest interiors in Minnesota and studying how they impact the soil. 

“All earthworms in MN are exotic and invasive,” Yoo explains. “Jumping worms are the most recent arrival, but their ecosystem impacts - which we are learning only recently - sound a big alarm. They make drastic changes to Minnesota forests.”

Two individuals kneel in a forest taking soil samples
Student researchers take samples of jumping worm-infested soil at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.

Jumping worms are not yet widespread in Minnesota, but their presence is becoming increasingly common. The Jumping Worms Project team is proactively educating the public about this invasive pest. Through collaborative work with UMN Extension and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, researchers have trained hundreds of anglers and gardeners to survey for, identify, and report jumping worms in their communities.

“Jumping worms are locally introduced and locally established,” Yoo comments. “Citizens today see this as an important issue that threatens the sustainability of MN ecosystems.”

The data that Minnesotans turn in gives researchers a better idea of how widespread jumping worms are and how urgent the need to slow their spread is. It also provides insights into the ways the worms are being spread, which informs any policy or best management practices that can be used to slow their spread. 

“We have identified mulch and mulch trades as the most important mechanism that introduces jumping worms. It’s critical for us to work with gardeners in the state to prevent further spread.”

Proactive research has identified the ways jumping worms spread and the negative impacts they have on our soils. Yoo and other researchers are investigating potential treatments to infested areas, but for now Minnesotans are a key line of defense against the further spread of jumping worms. 


This research is funded in part by the Minnesota Invasive Terrestrial Plants and Pests Center and USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Hatch project #1013562.