Insect Thermoregulation - Facing Extremities
As humans, throughout summer and winter not only do we have physiological and anatomical ways to regulate our temperature, we also have other means such as a fire place or air-conditioning. But bees do not have air-conditioning units in their hives when the outside temperature is over 35 degrees and stoneflies are unable to wrap themselves up in a scarf before crawling out of the snow in minus degrees, so how do they do it?
Insects, through evolution, have developed their own means of thermoregulation; Thermoregulation refers to an insect’s ability to regulate body temperature through behaviour, physiology, and morphology resulting in a temperature suitable for survival and reproduction. These different mechanisms that have evolved are as varied as the species they have developed in and these biological answers to natural problems are now used to solve biomimetic problems in everyday life such as food preservation and civil engineering issues.
Thermoregulation evolved via 2 main mechanisms, one being physiological and anatomical by natural selection and the other behavioural for example in poikilotherms. As define by Bernd & Esch a poikilotherm is an organism that cannot regulate its body temperature except by behavioural means.
Poikilotherms have a variable metabolism and therefore cannot always sustain high energy activities. Behavioural adaptations such as sit and wait hunting techniques help with keeping metabolic needs low, as the organism does not need to heat and cool themselves total energy requirement remains low. For example a poikilotherm of the same body weight as a homeotherm needs half to one tenth of the energy (Campbell et al. 2002) For an important chemical reaction somewhere in the tagmata, a poikilotherm may have anywhere up to 10 specific enzyme systems that produce the same molecule but operate under different temperatures allowing for continuous production (Cavalier-Smith 2002). These adaptations often result in a poikilotherm having a larger and more complex genome then that of a homeotherm living in the same ecological niche.
Throughout this web page is the mechanisms developed by insects to face extreme temperatures through behaviour, physiology, and morphology.
Insects, through evolution, have developed their own means of thermoregulation; Thermoregulation refers to an insect’s ability to regulate body temperature through behaviour, physiology, and morphology resulting in a temperature suitable for survival and reproduction. These different mechanisms that have evolved are as varied as the species they have developed in and these biological answers to natural problems are now used to solve biomimetic problems in everyday life such as food preservation and civil engineering issues.
Thermoregulation evolved via 2 main mechanisms, one being physiological and anatomical by natural selection and the other behavioural for example in poikilotherms. As define by Bernd & Esch a poikilotherm is an organism that cannot regulate its body temperature except by behavioural means.
Poikilotherms have a variable metabolism and therefore cannot always sustain high energy activities. Behavioural adaptations such as sit and wait hunting techniques help with keeping metabolic needs low, as the organism does not need to heat and cool themselves total energy requirement remains low. For example a poikilotherm of the same body weight as a homeotherm needs half to one tenth of the energy (Campbell et al. 2002) For an important chemical reaction somewhere in the tagmata, a poikilotherm may have anywhere up to 10 specific enzyme systems that produce the same molecule but operate under different temperatures allowing for continuous production (Cavalier-Smith 2002). These adaptations often result in a poikilotherm having a larger and more complex genome then that of a homeotherm living in the same ecological niche.
Throughout this web page is the mechanisms developed by insects to face extreme temperatures through behaviour, physiology, and morphology.