Soils are getting too moist for the top worm.

Ironically, a little more water might break the soil ecosystem. A recent warming spell has been good for all soil dwellers except one. The most numerous species, nematode Scottnema lindsayae, seems to be dying off. Other organisms are multiplying, but their numbers aren’t growing fast enough. S. lindsayae, which lives only in Antarctica, is a major player in the ground. So if it disappears without a successor, other species—and all the soil ecosystems—will be at risk, too.

(Images of nematodes and top soil needed.)
S. lindsayae has ruled the dry soil. But E. antarcticus, another nematode species, does better when it’s wetter—plus, it will eat anything, including S. lindsayae. For scale, two full grown nematodes could fit in the period at the end of this sentence. The mosses below would tower over these microscopic animals like redwood trees!