How do insects breathe?

The general answer has been understood for more than a century: insects breathe using an air-filled tracheal system that ramifies throughout the body. This system provides oxygen to tissues and removes the resulting carbon dioxide produced from metabolism. Because oxygen transport occurs in the air phase (rather than in blood), the tracheal system can support extremely high metabolic rates. Beyond these outlines, however, we understand little about the mechanisms driving gas transport in most insects. In this talk, I'll briefly review what we know already about gas transport and then will propose a novel chemical mechanism that we think may drive gas flows in caterpillars.

Speaker

Prof. Arthur Woods

LE STUDIUM Visiting Researcher 

FROM: University of Montana - USA
IN RESIDENCE AT: Insect Biology Research Institute (IRBI), University of Tours / CNRS - FR