Assistant Professor Justin Richardson recently co-authored two metanalyses of literature, published in Soil Biology and Biochemistry and Environmental Pollution to see what metals, especially potentially toxic ones, earthworms bioaccumulate, and if earthworms do in fact promote metal uptake in plants. They show that most earthworms bioaccumulate potentially toxic metals all over the world and that earthworms promote their uptake into plants.  Read the articles here and here.

Dr. Richardson also recently commented on a story published in Science on research showing that nuclear fallout showing up in honey produced in the United States. “They’re getting wiped out from pesticides, but there are other lesser known toxic impacts from humans, like fallout, that can affect their survival.”  Read more about this research here.