We should see ourselves, I think, as custodians of the great diversity of animals that we see around us today. But we should also remember that we are not masters of this diversity. In fact, we depend very much on the diversity of animals around us . . . even the lowly worm. -- Damhnait McHugh

Video: McHugh and students collect tunneling worms and earthworms

Colgate University Biologist Damhnait McHugh finds all worms fascinating. She works to understand how evolution has produced the incredible diversity found among the annelids. The common earthworm, for instance, is related to the spaghetti worm, a marine creature that hides its body in a tube and sends long, pasta-like tentacles out to bring food to the animal's mouth.

Along with other annelid experts, McHugh has shown that worms of all kinds are important members of their ecosystems. She has studied a species of tubeworms that live deep in the ocean near hydrothermal vents. These creatures are host to bacteria that convert toxic gases from the volcanic vents into food for the worm which in turn provides food for other deep sea organisms.

Her research on annelids has taken her around the world. At Coos Bay, Oregon, McHugh and several students examined worms that burrow into the bay's tidal mud flats. In other tidal flats, she studied the worm Diopatra which helps to stabilize the mud in which it lives by constructing tubular homes from sediment, bits of shell and biological glue.

Even the dirty job of working with worms in their native habitat appeals to McHugh. "What I like doing the most," she says, "is actually getting out, getting down, getting dirty in the mud with the worms themselves. Getting out there whether it's pouring rain, whether it's a low tide at dawn, I don't care. I just like to be out there with the worms, seeing them in their own habitat."

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