A new system for concurrent measurement of respiration and water loss in arthropods

✍ Scribed by Quinlan, Michael C. ;Hadley, Neil F.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1982
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 543 KB
• Volume: 222
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-104X
• DOI: 10.1002/jez.1402220308

✦ Synopsis

A new, flow-through system for the concurrent measurement of water loss and CO, production from arthropods is described. The system employs an Alz03 sensor to measure the moisture content of the air stream, and an infrared gas analyzer to determine the COz content. The system responds rapidly, is accurate, and provides a continuous record of both variables at constant or increasing temperatures. Preliminary studies on the house cricket, Achetu domesticus, showed that water loss and Vco2 were highly variable depending upon the activity of crickets and that water loss increased greatly as a result of oral and anal discharges of fluid. Occlusion of the mouth and anus (paraffin) reduced water loss and Vco2 at 30°C by 82 and 46%, respectively. Strong correlations between Vco2 and water loss were observed in crickets whose mouth and anus had been sealed, both in long-term (3 hour) isothermal studies and under conditions of rapidly increasing temperature. Key Kords arthropods, Acheta domesticus, carbon dioxide, metabolism, respiration, water loss Water loss and metabolic rate are frequently measured in insect physiology (see Edney, '77;

Miller, '74). Most studies have employed gravimetric techniques to measure water loss and manometry to estimate metabolic rate. These