The Behavioral Patterns and Weight Loss of Individual and .
Aggregate Specimens of Armadillidium vulgare Subjected to Desiccation.
Introduction.
All animals, marine, terrestrial, and freshwater, require water for normal biological function, and this is no different for the isopod Armadillidium vulgare. Without adequate water they will begin to exhibit abnormal behavioral patterns, and will eventually die (Campbell and Reece, 2002). It is possible for one to set up an experiment to record the patterns of water loss in animals. If one graphs the rate of water loss when specimens of A. vulgare is in a dry environment, it is expected that the animals will lose water at an initially rapid rate, and later water loss will begin to plateau (Lindqvist 1972). However, an animal in an environment with too much water may also begin to demonstrate unusual behavior. .
A. vulgare have also been demonstrated to be tactile animals, suggesting that aggregated isopods may act differently in groups than individually (Edney, 1968). This creates the possibility that under physical stress, due to desiccation for example, the animals may react differently if they are alone than if they are aggregated, and that this difference in behavior may change the rate of water loss. .
The purpose of this experiment is to determine the behavioral affects of desiccation on A. vulgare as individuals versus in a group, and to find out whether this difference in behavior affects the amount of water the animals lose. We will also determine whether isopods are positively or negatively hygrokinetic. According to M. R. Warburg (Warburg, 1964) A. vulgare is positively hygrokinetic, meaning that it will seek out moisture, and once it locates a source of water, will likely stay there. I suggest that when the isopods are in a group they will lose less water than they will as individuals, and that most isopods will be attracted to a moister environment whether or not they are in a group.