Insect Physiological Ecology Mechanisms and Patterns

by Chown, Steven L.; Nicolson, Sue W.

• ISBN13: 9780198515494
• ISBN10: 0198515499
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-09-30
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This book provides a modern, synthetic overview of interactions between insects and their environments from a physiological perspective that integrates information across a range of approaches and scales. It shows that evolved physiological responses at the individual level are translated into coherent physiological and ecological patterns at larger, even global scales. This is done by examining in detail the ways in which insects obtain resources from the environment, process these resources in various ways, and turn the results into energy which alloews them to regulate their internal environment as well as cope with evvironmental extremes of temperture and water availability. The book demonstrates that physiological responses are not only characterized by substantial temporal variation, but also show coherent variation across several spatial scales. At the largest, global scale, there appears to be substantial variation associated with the hemisphere in which insects are found. Such variation has profound implication as well as responses to climate change, and these implications are explicitly discussed. The book provides a novel integration of the understanding gained from broad-scale field studies of many species and the more narrowly focused laboratory investigations of model organisms. In so doing it reflects the growing realization that an integration of mechanistic and large-scale comparative physiology can result in unexpected insights into the diversity of insects.

Author Biography

Sue Nicolson is in the Department of Zoology and Entomology at the University of Pretoria. Her research interests are in ecophysiology, especially insect water balance and the physiological aspects of pollination biology.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Physiological variation	p. 2
How much variation?	p. 3
Diversity at large scales: macrophysiology	p. 7
Growing integration	p. 9
This book	p. 10
Nutritional physiology and ecology	p. 14
Method and measurement	p. 16
Artificial diets	p. 16
Indices of food conversion efficiency	p. 16
Use of a geometric framework	p. 17
Physiological aspects of feeding behaviour	p. 18
Optimal feeding in caterpillars	p. 18
Regulation of meal size: volumetric or nutritional feedback	p. 20
Regulation of protein and carbohydrate intake	p. 22
Digestion and absorption of nutrients	p. 23
Digestive enzymes and the organization of digestion	p. 23
Gut physicochemistry of caterpillars	p. 26
Absorption of nutrients	p. 27
Overcoming problems with plant feeding	p. 30
Cellulose digestion: endogenous or microbial?	p. 30
Nitrogen as a limiting nutrient	p. 32
Secondary plant compounds	p. 34
Growth, development, and life history	p. 39
Development time versus body size	p. 39
Developmental trade-offs between body parts	p. 41
Temperature and growth	p. 44
Thermal effects on feeding and growth	p. 44
Interactions with food quality	p. 46
Metabolism and gas exchange	p. 49
Method and measurement	p. 50
Metabolism	p. 51
Aerobic pathways	p. 51
Anaerobic pathways and environmental hypoxia	p. 52
Gas exchange structures and principles	p. 54
Gas exchange and transport in insects	p. 55
Gas exchange principles	p. 57
Gas exchange and metabolic rate at rest	p. 60
Gas exchange patterns	p. 60
Discontinuous gas exchange cycles	p. 63
Variation in discontinuous gas exchange cycles	p. 66
Origin and adaptive value of the DGC	p. 68
Metabolic rate variation: size	p. 73
Metabolic rate variation: temperature and water availability	p. 75
Gas exchange and metabolic rate during activity	p. 79
Flight	p. 80
Crawling, running, carrying	p. 83
Feeding	p. 85
Metabolic rate and ecology	p. 86
Water balance physiology	p. 87
Water loss	p. 87
Cuticle	p. 88
Respiration	p. 91
Excretion	p. 94
Water gain	p. 99
Food	p. 100
Drinking	p. 101
Metabolism	p. 102
Water vapour absorption	p. 102
Osmoregulation	p. 103
Haemolymph composition	p. 103
Responses to osmotic stress	p. 105
Salt intake	p. 107
Desiccation resistance	p. 107
Microclimates	p. 108
Group effects	p. 109
Dormancy, size, and phylogeny	p. 109
The evidence for adaptation: Drosophila as a model	p. 111
Lethal temperature limits	p. 115
Method and measurement	p. 115
Rates of change	p. 117
Measures of thermal stress	p. 118
Exposure and recovery time	p. 120
Heat shock, cold shock, and rapid hardening	p. 121
Acclimation	p. 122
Heat shock	p. 124
Cold shock	p. 131
Relationships between heat and cold shock responses	p. 134
Programmed responses to cold	p. 137
Cold hardiness classifications	p. 137
Freeze intolerance	p. 139
Cryoprotective dehydration	p. 144
Freezing tolerance	p. 145
Large-scale patterns	p. 146
Cold tolerance strategies: phylogeny, geography, benefits	p. 147
The geography of upper and lower limits	p. 150
Thermoregulation	p. 154
Method and measurement	p. 155
Power output and temperature	p. 157
Behavioural regulation	p. 160
Microhabitats and activity	p. 161
Colour and body size	p. 163
Evaporative cooling in ectothermic cicadas	p. 165
Butterflies: interactions between levels	p. 166
Variation at the phosphoglucose isomerase locus	p. 167
Wing colour	p. 167
The influence of predation	p. 168
Regulation by endothermy	p. 169
Preflight warm-up	p. 170
Regulation of heat gain	p. 170
Regulation of heat loss	p. 171
Endothermy: ecological and evolutionary aspects	p. 172
Bees: body size and foraging	p. 173
Bees: food quality and body temperature	p. 175
Conclusion	p. 177
Spatial variation and its implications	p. 177
Decoupling of upper and lower lethal limits	p. 177
Latitudinal variation in species richness and generation time	p. 180
Spatial extent of the data	p. 181
Body size	p. 182
Interactions: internal and external	p. 185
Internal interactions	p. 185
External interactions	p. 186
Interactions: critical questions	p. 187
Climate change	p. 188
To conclude	p. 190
References	p. 191
Index	p. 237
Table of Contents provided by Rittenhouse. All Rights Reserved.