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 HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by LIGHTON, J. R. B. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by LIGHTON, J. R. B. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Journal of Experimental Biology 159,249-268 (1991)
Published by Company of Biologists 1991

Ventilation in Namib Desert Tenebrionid Beetles: Mass Scaling and Evidence of a Novel Quantized Flutter-Phase

JOHN R. B. LIGHTON ¹

¹ Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112, USA

The mass scaling of discontinuous ventilation (DV) phenomena in adult motionless insects is currently unknown. I present DV phenomena from 10 species of Namib Desert tenebrionid beetles; four from the dune-sea habitat, five from the river-bed habitat and one from the gravel plain habitat, which is characterized by very low and patchy resource availability. This species differed from the others in many respects. However, all species exhibited a previously undescribed, convective and quantized F phase ventilation (ISP, or intermittent serial pulsation, phase). For dune-sea and river-bed habitat species, all DV characteristics except DV frequency (V phase CO₂ emission volume and rate, total and per-burst ISP phase CO₂ emission volume, and total rate) scaled tightly with body mass with a scaling exponent close to 1.0 (typical r²>0.95–0.98), as did overall rate of CO₂ production and hence metabolic rate (MR). Consequently these parameters were independent of body mass when expressed on a mass-specific basis, explaining the independence of body mass and DV frequency. These findings are compatible with published DV data in other species and orders of insects, suggesting that these scaling phenomena may be widespread. The gravel plain species (Epiphysa arenicola) had an MR of 38%, V phase CO₂ volume of 41% and V phase CO₂ emission rate of 23% of those predicted on the basis of its body mass, and it emitted a greater proportion of CO₂ during its ISP phase (47% vs 24% of total CO₂ output per DV cycle in the other species). It is suggested that these discrepancies are respiratory and ventilatory adaptations to scarce and patchy energy and water availability.

Key words: insect ventilation, metabolic rate, tenebrionid beetles, mass scaling

Accepted on May 22, 1991

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. J. Socha, W.-K. Lee, J. F. Harrison, J. S. Waters, K. Fezzaa, and M. W. Westneat Correlated patterns of tracheal compression and convective gas exchange in a carabid beetle J. Exp. Biol., November 1, 2008; 211(21): 3409 - 3420. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. S. Terblanche, E. Marais, S. K. Hetz, and S. L. Chown Control of discontinuous gas exchange in Samia cynthia: effects of atmospheric oxygen, carbon dioxide and moisture J. Exp. Biol., October 15, 2008; 211(20): 3272 - 3280. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. S Terblanche, C. R White, T. M Blackburn, E. Marais, and S. L Chown Scaling of gas exchange cycle frequency in insects Biol Lett, February 23, 2008; 4(1): 127 - 129. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. R. B. Lighton and R. J. Turner The hygric hypothesis does not hold water: abolition of discontinuous gas exchange cycles does not affect water loss in the ant Camponotus vicinus J. Exp. Biol., February 15, 2008; 211(4): 563 - 567. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. R. White, T. M. Blackburn, J. S. Terblanche, E. Marais, M. Gibernau, and S. L. Chown Evolutionary responses of discontinuous gas exchange in insects PNAS, May 15, 2007; 104(20): 8357 - 8361. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. J. Greenlee, C. Nebeker, and J. F. Harrison Body size-independent safety margins for gas exchange across grasshopper species J. Exp. Biol., April 1, 2007; 210(7): 1288 - 1296. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				E. Marais, C. J. Klok, J. S. Terblanche, and S. L. Chown Insect gas exchange patterns: a phylogenetic perspective J. Exp. Biol., December 1, 2005; 208(23): 4495 - 4507. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				F. D. Duncan and M. J. Byrne The role of the mesothoracic spiracles in respiration in flighted and flightless dung beetles J. Exp. Biol., March 1, 2005; 208(5): 907 - 914. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				E. Marais and S. L. Chown Repeatability of standard metabolic rate and gas exchange characteristics in a highly variable cockroach, Perisphaeria sp. J. Exp. Biol., December 15, 2003; 206(24): 4565 - 4574. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. L. Chown and A. L. V. Davis Discontinuous gas exchange and the significance of respiratory water loss in scarabaeine beetles J. Exp. Biol., October 15, 2003; 206(20): 3547 - 3556. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. J. Byrne and F. D. Duncan The role of the subelytral spiracles in respiration in the flightless dung beetle Circellium bacchus J. Exp. Biol., April 15, 2003; 206(8): 1309 - 1318. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				F. D. Duncan, B. Krasnov, and M. McMaster Metabolic rate and respiratory gas-exchange patterns in tenebrionid beetles from the Negev Highlands, Israel J. Exp. Biol., March 15, 2002; 205(6): 791 - 798. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. Chappell and G. Rogowitz Mass, temperature and metabolic effects on discontinuous gas exchange cycles in eucalyptus-boring beetles (Coleoptera: cerambycidae) J. Exp. Biol., January 12, 2000; 203(24): 3809 - 3820. [Abstract] [PDF]