For most of us, our interest in woodlice or pill bugs decreases after the age of five. They are just there. Under stones or scurrying along the bottom of a wall, we see them as an untidy blemish on our orderly arrangement of nature. Their vital role in the decomposition of organic material and their important contribution to soil health, is not a topic for discussion at the dinner tables of the chattering classes. I, for one, had given little thought to the social aspirations of the little bugs. But they have been much studied, and a paper by Devigne et al (1), which was published last Friday, looked at their gregarious nature.
Their social networking skills work at long range, and they quickly get the word out that there is a meeting to attend. Dark corners are preferred for large meetings, and like most large meetings, they tend to take a long time to get through the business. Brighter lights result in the quorate rules being relaxed, smaller meetings are held and the business dispensed with more rapidly. There is an important life lesson in there for all of us I think.
1. http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0017389
Word gets 'round - it's time to party down - pillbug style. Let's keep the meetings short!