QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by EDWARDS, H.A. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by EDWARDS, H.A.

Journal of Experimental Biology 101,135-141 (1982)
Published by Company of Biologists 1982

Aedes Aegypti: Energetics of Osmoregulation

H.A. EDWARDS ¹

¹ Department of Zoology South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, England

1. Oxygen consumption of A. aegypti larvae, about 210 mul l g^-1 tissue wet weight h^-1, does not change when the salinity of the environment is changed.

The number of mitochondria in the anal papillae, a salt-absorbing epithelium, increases as the external medium is diluted.

There is no difference in oxygen consumption between isolated anal papillae in 0, 2 and 20% sea water. The papillae represent about 5% of body volume and their oxygen consumption is about 2% of the animal's total.

The theoretical minimum energy cost of osmoregulation is four orders of magnitude smaller than the measured figure for the anal papillae alone.

Osmoregulatory phenomena which would explain the recorded observations are discussed.