Environment

Atacama Rains

Microbes in the world’s driest desert have been ravaged by recent rains in a region that had previously seen no precipitation for the past 500 years.

Chile’s Atacama Desert has received unprecedented rains during the last three years, and Spanish researchers say it has devastated life that had evolved to live in a rain-free environment.

“Our group has discovered that ... the never-before-seen rainfall has not triggered a flowering of life in Atacama, but instead the rains have caused enormous devastation in the microbial species,” said astrobiologist Alberto G. Fairén.

Jumping Worms Invade America

Expanding populations of invasive earthworms from Asia are altering the soil across parts of America, from the Southeast to the Upper Midwest, in ways that are just now being studied.

The jumping earthworms are native to eastern Asia and have been known locally for the past 100 years as crazy worms, Alabama jumpers and snake worms.

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin in Madison have found that they leave little balls of soil mixed with their feces that look like coffee grounds.

Geoscientist Jenelle Wempner discovered that the excrement mix locks up nutrients and chemically alters the soil. This could deprive trees of those nutrients as well as increase erosion.