Reinke lab @ Utoronto

Worms About Town

Worms About Town is a community-based biodiversity project that began in 2024 to engage Toronto residents in discovering and documenting wild nematodes in the city’s gardens and green spaces. Working alongside University of Toronto researchers, citizen scientists collect environmental samples from across the city that are used to identify wild nematodes and their natural pathogens, such as viruses and microscopic fungi called microsporidia. Nematodes are among the most abundant animals on Earth and are important components of soil and decomposer ecosystems, yet very little is known about their diversity and natural pathogens in urban environments. By studying these organisms, Worms About Town explores an overlooked component of Toronto's biodiversity and gives members of the community an exciting opportunity to participate in authentic scientific discovery.

How the project works:

1. Members of the Toronto community (“M” postal codes) sign up to become a citizen scientist and receive a nematode collection kit, which includes simple instructions on how to locate and prepare samples. The sample collection period occurs on an annual basis from August through November

2. Back in our microbiology laboratory at the University of Toronto, we survey the samples for wild nematodes. Any nematodes discovered are screened for pathogen infections, then nematode and pathogen identities are determined using DNA sequencing

3. We continuously share data updates to the citizen scientists throughout the sampling period, including descriptions of the current findings, images and videos of wild nematodes, and fluorescent microscopy images of pathogen infections

By the numbers

Throughout 2024 and 2025, 19 Toronto residents participated in the project. 88 wild nematode strains and 5 microsporidia pathogens were discovered from 58 locations across the city, ranging from Etobicoke to Scarborough. Our findings have been published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal!