(DUBLIN) - Earthworms provide services to Ireland worth over 700 million euros (108 million dollars) a year, according to a government-commissioned study on Monday.

The environment ministry's 197-page report, Benefits and Costs of Biodiversity in Ireland, investigates the social and economic aspects of biodiversity in the country.

"By drawing a comparison between the value of ecosystem services provided by biodiversity and the cost of implementing biodiversity protection policies, the authors established a marginal value of biodiversity to Ireland or at least 2.6 billion euros a year," said Environment Minister John Gormley.

"The report has estimated that the value of the humble earthworm to Ireland to be in the region of 700 million euros per annum for the services it provides in removing dead matter and releasing nutrients back to the soil."

Ireland has a national herd of about seven million cattle and the report says worms perform a "valuable function" in dung burial in a situation where a cow can produce over nine tonnes of waste per year.

The report's authors say that in fact they could be undervaluing just how economically important Ireland's worms are.

"The presence of earthworms could be said to contribute up to 723 euros million per year in terms of the value of livestock production," they said.

"Adding a comparable contribution to tillage and horticultural crops (value 1.3 billion euros) -- noting especially the important services that earthworms provide to soil structure -- could raise this value to over 1 billion euros."

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