Hypotheses regarding the discontinuous gas exchange cycle (DGC) of insects

Heidy L Contreras; Erica C Heinrich; Timothy J Bradley

doi:10.1016/j.cois.2014.08.008

Hypotheses regarding the discontinuous gas exchange cycle (DGC) of insects

Curr Opin Insect Sci. 2014 Oct:4:48-53. doi: 10.1016/j.cois.2014.08.008. Epub 2014 Aug 20.

Authors

Heidy L Contreras¹, Erica C Heinrich², Timothy J Bradley²

Affiliations

¹ Biology Department, University of La Verne, 1950 3rd Street, La Verne, CA 91750, United States. Electronic address: hcontreras@laverne.edu.
² Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-2525, United States.

PMID: 28043408
DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2014.08.008

Abstract

The evolutionary origin of the insect respiratory pattern referred to as the discontinuous gas exchange cycle (DGC) has been a topic of extensive discussion among insect physiologists for at least 50 years. This pattern has often been thought to reduce respiratory water loss (RWL). However, because this pattern does not consistently conserve water among all taxa, other hypotheses have been proposed to try and explain the significance of the DGC. In this review we briefly describe the different hypotheses postulated to date. We conclude that the DGC is primarily a respiratory pattern deriving from the simultaneous regulation of O₂ and CO₂. It may nonetheless have additional adaptive functions in insects.

Publication types

Review