When you think of a woodlouse, do you also think of a sneaky, gray-scaled monster? The poor animal also seems to be systematically ignored by science. Unjustified, it now appears. Because this invertebrate plays a crucial role in ecosystems. High time to place the lobster’s cousin on his deserved pedestal.
What’s so special about a woodlouse?
In a study published today from Kobe University in Japan, researchers show how indispensable the small invertebrates are to nature. The discovery? Woodlice eat plant seeds and often excrete them completely intact. And that is useful, because then the seeds can make new plants.
Why is that so special? Mammals and birds frequently participate in this seed dispersal. But a woodlouse is only a small animal that has been little studied for this role in the ecosystem. The researchers were surprised that the seeds can still be used through the crawler’s small digestive tract. The woodlouse now holds the record as the smallest disperser of ingested seeds.
Woodlice like it clean
It is therefore the most finicky seeds that woodlice eat. The Japanese scientists focused their research on a small white plant from the heath family, which is found in East Asia (Monotropastrum humile). This dragon-like plant eats fungi and has tiny, robust seeds. The woodlice bring those seeds to places where the average bird would not venture: in damp cracks in your basement, for example, where the plant can feast on plenty of fungi.
In addition to this Asian plant, our Dutch gardens can also be grateful to woodlice. They are real scavengers, they eat dead plant remains in the soil and thoroughly stir up your garden. Their droppings also contribute to the fertilization of the soil. Their pee too? No, a woodlouse doesn’t pee at all, strangely enough. It owes its name to the persistent fable that eating woodlice would help prevent bedwetting.
Quite a useful animal after all, a woodlouse. But don’t eat that food… eating a woodlice for breakfast won’t help you get rid of your hay fever.
