Insect Gas Exchange System
Feb 9, 2021 17:44:08 #
Yesterday's post mentioned how I use liquid dish soap to dispatch troublesome insects such as aggressive wasps. I described how when they are sprayed with a thick solution of dish soap and water that it coats their bodies and clogs the holes that they use to breathe, much like getting Jello up our nose would suffocate us.
This is a magnified view of a Stink Bug that through our house would be a good place to overwinter....bad idea on its part. Notice the two holes along its thorax and abdomen. These are how the insects perform respiration via a tracheal system, in which openings (those holes) called 'spiracles' allow oxygen to pass into the body. It is fortunate for us that this is a limiting factor to the size that an insect can get.
"Insect respiration is independent of its circulatory system; therefore, the blood does not play a direct role in oxygen transport. Insects have a highly-specialized type of respiratory system called the tracheal system, which consists of a network of small tubes that carries oxygen to the entire body. The tracheal system, the most direct and efficient respiratory system in active animals, has tubes made of a polymeric material called chitin.
Insect bodies have openings, called spiracles, along the thorax and abdomen. These openings connect to the tubular network, allowing oxygen to pass into the body, regulating the diffusion of CO2 and water vapor. Air enters and leaves the tracheal system through the spiracles. Some insects can ventilate the tracheal system with body movements."
This is a magnified view of a Stink Bug that through our house would be a good place to overwinter....bad idea on its part. Notice the two holes along its thorax and abdomen. These are how the insects perform respiration via a tracheal system, in which openings (those holes) called 'spiracles' allow oxygen to pass into the body. It is fortunate for us that this is a limiting factor to the size that an insect can get.
"Insect respiration is independent of its circulatory system; therefore, the blood does not play a direct role in oxygen transport. Insects have a highly-specialized type of respiratory system called the tracheal system, which consists of a network of small tubes that carries oxygen to the entire body. The tracheal system, the most direct and efficient respiratory system in active animals, has tubes made of a polymeric material called chitin.
Insect bodies have openings, called spiracles, along the thorax and abdomen. These openings connect to the tubular network, allowing oxygen to pass into the body, regulating the diffusion of CO2 and water vapor. Air enters and leaves the tracheal system through the spiracles. Some insects can ventilate the tracheal system with body movements."
Feb 9, 2021 20:06:07 #
Feb 9, 2021 20:19:00 #
kpmac wrote:
Brought me back to my entomology days in college, sippy.
Kpmac, I hope those were "good ol' days" for you. I spent my days learning mechanical stuff which was easy for me to relate to like 'don't stick your finger in a light socket' and 'don't look into the open end of a drain pipe' among other things one could learn the hard way.
Feb 10, 2021 01:14:35 #
👍 Very good. Its possible to see tracheal tubes in insects that are rather transparent.
Feb 10, 2021 08:14:42 #
Feb 10, 2021 09:39:44 #
Good narrative on respiration and an excellent picture. I often watch dragons "breathe" as I'm taking pictures.
>i< Doc
>i< Doc
Feb 10, 2021 12:56:51 #
Mark Sturtevant wrote:
👍 Very good. Its possible to see tracheal tubes in insects that are rather transparent.
Thanks, Mark. I would find viewing transparent insects to be quite amazing. I watch many videos on the microscopic wonders of our world such as "Water Bears" and others of which I can see their "innards" as they scoot about under the microscope. I can watch them eat and even poop it out.
I've looked into getting a microscope as my next adventure. One part of me would like a compound microscope for what it can do while another part of me would like to have a stereo microscope for what it can do. Of course I'd want a trinocular one with a digital camera to record and share what I see under it.
Feb 10, 2021 12:58:31 #
raymondh wrote:
Thanks for this very interesting entomological lesson.
Thanks, Raymondh. These are sooooo small that they can't be seen with the unaided eye so I thought it would be something to share with others here.
Feb 10, 2021 13:07:03 #
docshark wrote:
Good narrative on respiration and an excellent picture. I often watch dragons "breathe" as I'm taking pictures.
>i< Doc
>i< Doc
Thanks, Doc. Of course I am not skilled in entomology nor any sciences other than mechanical so what narratives I share are usually fairly primitive put into a layman's terms in ways that I think that I understand them.
Of course what I lack in knowledge and skill I try to make up for with my stubborn drive. It's like the best carpenters know how to hammer a nail correctly after hitting their thumb a few times.
Feb 10, 2021 22:13:53 #
Feb 10, 2021 22:31:14 #
I've heard, that's why prehistoric insects were able to get so large. They breathed the same way, but there was more oxygen in our atmosphere so it was more efficient.
Feb 10, 2021 23:53:34 #
mikee wrote:
I've heard, that's why prehistoric insects were able to get so large. They breathed the same way, but there was more oxygen in our atmosphere so it was more efficient.
Mikee, ever so true. It is widely believed from discoveries in air bubbles in fossilized amber that the atmosphere some 67-million years ago was very oxygen rich compared to today's atmosphere. This was to the insects advantage during those times.
The Conservation of Matter tells us that Nothing is Created Nor Destroyed, It is Only Changed. Thus all of the oxygen on earth during creation is still here however oxygen is very, very reactive so it wants to combine with other elements leaving less in the air we breathe as free oxygen.
We live in a truly amazing and ever changing world.
Feb 11, 2021 08:38:24 #
Thanks. I just used it to enlighten my "teen" granddaughter". She likes biology. As always...GREAT SHOTS!
Feb 11, 2021 09:28:45 #
Redrock51 wrote:
Thanks. I just used it to enlighten my "teen" granddaughter". She likes biology. As always...GREAT SHOTS!
Thanks and it is warming to know that a younger generation is interested in seeing what I see through my magnified lens. Lessons in schools have changed over the 50-years since my classes for there is much more to cover and so little time requiring there to be more of an overview and less deep detail in many of the subjects.
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