spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Bennett, V. A.
Right arrow Articles by Lee, R. E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Bennett, V. A.
Right arrow Articles by Lee, R. E.

Journal of Experimental Biology, Vol 202, Issue 1 47-53, Copyright © 1999 by Company of Biologists

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Metabolic opportunists: feeding and temperature influence the rate and pattern of respiration in the high arctic woollybear caterpillar gynaephora groenlandica (Lymantriidae)

VA Bennett, O Kukal and RE Lee
Department of Zoology, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056, USA and Department of Biology, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8W 3P6. bennetv@miavx1.muohio.edu.

Arctic woollybear caterpillars, Gynaephora groenlandica, had the capacity to rapidly and dramatically increase respiration rates up to fourfold within 12-24 h of feeding and exhibited similar decreases in respiration of 60-85 % in as little as 12 h of starvation. At the peak of their feeding season, the respiration rates of caterpillars also increased significantly with temperature from 0.5 to 22 degreesC for both fed and starved caterpillars (Q10=1-5). Indicative of diapause, late season caterpillars had depressed respiration rates which were less sensitive to temperature changes (Q10 approximately 1.5), while respiration rates for caterpillars that had spun hibernacula were even lower. G. groenlandica did not appear to demonstrate metabolic cold adaptation compared with other temperate lepidopteran larvae. The seasonal capacity to adjust metabolic rate rapidly in response to food consumption and temperature (which can be elevated by basking) may promote the efficient acquisition of energy during the brief (1 month) summer growing and feeding season, while conserving energy by entering diapause when conditions are less favorable. These adaptations, along with their long 15-20 year life cycle and the retention of freeze tolerance year-round, promote the survival of G. groenlandica in this harsh polar environment.


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Integr. Comp. Biol.Home page
H. V. Danks
Seasonal Adaptations in Arctic Insects
Integr. Comp. Biol., April 1, 2004; 44(2): 85 - 94.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


© The Company of Biologists Ltd 1999