Why Do Insects Close Their Spiracles? A Meta-Analytic Evaluation of the Adaptive Hypothesis of Discontinuous Gas Exchange in Insects.

ABSTRACT: The earliest description of the discontinuous gas exchange cycle (DGC) in lepidopterous insects supported the hypothesis that the DGC serves to reduce water loss (hygric hypothesis) and facilitate gaseous exchange in hyperoxia/hypoxia (chthonic hypothesis). With technological advances, other insect orders were investigated, and both hypotheses were questioned. Thus, we conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the merit of both hypotheses. This included 46 insect species in 24 families across nine orders. We also quantified the percent change in metabolic rates per °C change of temperature during the DGC. The DGC reduced water loss (-3.27 ± 0.88; estimate ± 95% confidence limits [95% CI]; p < 0.0001) in insects. However, the DGC does not favor gaseous exchange in hyperoxia (0.21 ± 0.25 [estima

SUBMITTER: Oladipupo SO 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8878836 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature