Holy shit I love this
Rolie-polies!!!
This is the correct name
Heavy metal
Is stored in the pill bug.
Removed 😭
…from the soil, so that we may enjoy it! \m/
I used to collect these and keep them in a coffee tin filled with dirt (and air holes) they bred like crazy. I loved those little rollie pollies so much!
It was the 90s, insects weren’t even on the radar of animal cruelty. Parents definitely weren’t commonly teaching against it. Before anyone @ me. I disagree with it now.
Wait where do the heavy metals go after they die? Or do they just bind them in some more stable chemical form?
There might be some immobilization, but it would be relatively short lived, depending on the C:N ratio of the isopods ( I can’t believe I just typed that) and where the metals are stored in the isopods (again). If it’s in the chitin, release times would be slower.
Either way, it would ultimately return to the soil. Some organically bound metal (e.g., in soil organic matter) are labile and might leach out over time but the bulk of it would be stable, I imagine.
so it goes into their bodies and when they die back into the soil?
It turns into hard rock
