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Journal of Experimental Biology 154,509-516 (1990)
Published by Company of Biologists 1990

A Temperature-Induced Switch From Diffusive to Convecttve Ventilation in the Honeybee

JOHN R.B. LIGHTON ¹ and BARRY G. LOVEGROVE ²

¹ Laboratory of Biomedical and Environmental Science, University of California at Los Angeles, 900 Veteran Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA; address: Biology Department, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA.
² Laboratory of Biomedical and Environmental Science, University of California at Los Angeles, 900 Veteran Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA; Zoology Department, Philipps University (Marburg), PO Box 1929, D-3550 Marburg, Federal Republic of Germany.

It is known that many insects emit CO₂ in widely spaced ‘bursts’ or discontinuous ventilation events, usually characterized by active abdominal ventilation. We describe the discontinuous CO₂ emission characteristics of the honeybee (Apis mellifera ligustica Spinola), and utilize its ‘chill coma’ temperature threshold (12°C) to effect transitions from continuous, diffusive to discontinuous, convective ventilation regimes. Increasing temperature abruptly switched the dynamics of ventilation from diffusive and continuous (11 °C) to convective and discontinuous (>12°C). The ventilation cycle frequency was 7.84mHz and CO₂ output per ventilation event (burst phase) was 1.56µl: neither variable was temperaturedependent in the range 12–15 °C. The rate of CO₂ emission did not change significantly in the range 7–15 °C, possibly owing to increased membrane leakiness at lower temperatures. At 15°C, honeybee metabolic rate (2.69 W kg^-1, mean mass 0.094 g) is similar to that of other similarly sized insects capable of significant endothermy.

Key words: discontinuous ventilation, insect ventilation, metabolic rate

Accepted on May 31, 1990

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