Blowfly larvae stimuli

[sykosat2004]

Hey does anyone know how blowfly larvae and woodlice move to more favourable environments by simple behavioural responses to the stimuli of light and humidity respectively? Cheers

[eifionlewis]

Not sure about the blowfly larvae, but i know that woodlice favour dark and humid over light and dry, but will forgo darkness in favour of a humid light environment.

Basically they need to be moist to breathe, as their lungs are not fully adapted to land survival. They huddle together to increase surface area and retain more moisture, and tend to stay out of direct light to avoid evaporation.

I did an experiment last year for my biology degree, where we charted how woodlice follow humidity gradients, and found that unless the woodlouse was sick, they all followed it to the letter, and we found them huddled together in the humid reigion 100% of the time.