A stressful shortness of breath: molting disrupts breathing in the mayfly Cloeon dipterum

Molting is a stressful event in insect development. When an insect molts, the individual discards its exoskeleton and sheds and renews the interior lining of substantial portions of the respiratory (tracheal) system. We profiled for the first time the disruptive pattern of respiration during the mol...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Freshwater science 2014-09, Vol.33 (3), p.695-699
Main Authors: Camp, A. A., Funk, D. H., Buchwalter, D. B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cloeon dipterum
Ephemeroptera
FASTTRACKED
Freshwater
molting
oxygen consumption
respirometry
temperature
thermal biology
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Summary:Molting is a stressful event in insect development. When an insect molts, the individual discards its exoskeleton and sheds and renews the interior lining of substantial portions of the respiratory (tracheal) system. We profiled for the first time the disruptive pattern of respiration during the molting process in larvae of the mayfly Cloeon dipterum (Ephemeroptera:Baetidae). Molting induces a precipitous drop in O2 consumption immediately followed by a surge in O2 consumption that appears to be compensatory in nature. Postmolt metabolic suppression is consistently observed during which O2 consumption rates lag relative to those of nonmolting larvae. Furthermore, the magnitude of respiratory disturbance during the molt increases as a function of temperature. Increasing temperatures increase molting frequency and the apparently stressful nature of the molt itself. Thus, the insect molt appears to be a previously unappreciated route by which warming conditions may affect aquatic insects.
ISSN:0887-3593
2161-9549
1937-237X
2161-9565
DOI:10.1086/677899