An article in Sundays paper, "Earthweek: A diary of the planet." there was a quick note about an article that appeared in "Soil Biology and Biochemistry" that showed research that indicate earthworms that lived is soils laden with fungicides were smaller and fewer then earthworms in organic soils with no fungicides. Apparently the earthworms expend a lot of energy detoxifying themselves and the soil they live in and do not then have the energy to reproduce and grow.