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The Respiratory Metabolism of Polistes biglumis, a Paper Wasp from Mountainous Regions
European Polistine wasps inhabit mainly temperate and warm climate regions. However, the paper wasp Polistes biglumis represents an exception; it resides in mountainous areas, e.g., in the Alps and in the Apennines. In these habitats, the wasps are exposed to a broad temperature range during their l...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2020
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7142496/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32143398 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects11030165 |
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author | Kovac, Helmut Käfer, Helmut Stabentheiner, Anton |
author_facet | Kovac, Helmut Käfer, Helmut Stabentheiner, Anton |
author_sort | Kovac, Helmut |
collection | PubMed |
description | European Polistine wasps inhabit mainly temperate and warm climate regions. However, the paper wasp Polistes biglumis represents an exception; it resides in mountainous areas, e.g., in the Alps and in the Apennines. In these habitats, the wasps are exposed to a broad temperature range during their lifetime. We investigated whether they developed adaptations in their metabolism to their special climate conditions by measuring their CO(2) production. The standard or resting metabolic rate and the metabolism of active wasps was measured in the temperature range which they are exposed to in their habitat in summer. The standard metabolic rate increased in a typical exponential progression with ambient temperature, like in other wasps. The active metabolism also increased with temperature, but not in a simple exponential course. Some exceptionally high values were presumed to originate from endothermy. The simultaneous measurement of body temperature and metabolic rate revealed a strong correlation between these two parameters. The comparison of the standard metabolic rate of Polistes biglumis with that of Polistes dominula revealed a significantly lower metabolism of the alpine wasps. This energy saving metabolic strategy could be an adaptation to the harsh climate conditions, which restricts foraging flights and energy recruitment. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7142496 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-71424962020-04-15 The Respiratory Metabolism of Polistes biglumis, a Paper Wasp from Mountainous Regions Kovac, Helmut Käfer, Helmut Stabentheiner, Anton Insects Article European Polistine wasps inhabit mainly temperate and warm climate regions. However, the paper wasp Polistes biglumis represents an exception; it resides in mountainous areas, e.g., in the Alps and in the Apennines. In these habitats, the wasps are exposed to a broad temperature range during their lifetime. We investigated whether they developed adaptations in their metabolism to their special climate conditions by measuring their CO(2) production. The standard or resting metabolic rate and the metabolism of active wasps was measured in the temperature range which they are exposed to in their habitat in summer. The standard metabolic rate increased in a typical exponential progression with ambient temperature, like in other wasps. The active metabolism also increased with temperature, but not in a simple exponential course. Some exceptionally high values were presumed to originate from endothermy. The simultaneous measurement of body temperature and metabolic rate revealed a strong correlation between these two parameters. The comparison of the standard metabolic rate of Polistes biglumis with that of Polistes dominula revealed a significantly lower metabolism of the alpine wasps. This energy saving metabolic strategy could be an adaptation to the harsh climate conditions, which restricts foraging flights and energy recruitment. MDPI 2020-03-04 /pmc/articles/PMC7142496/ /pubmed/32143398 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects11030165 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Kovac, Helmut Käfer, Helmut Stabentheiner, Anton The Respiratory Metabolism of Polistes biglumis, a Paper Wasp from Mountainous Regions |
title | The Respiratory Metabolism of Polistes biglumis, a Paper Wasp from Mountainous Regions |
title_full | The Respiratory Metabolism of Polistes biglumis, a Paper Wasp from Mountainous Regions |
title_fullStr | The Respiratory Metabolism of Polistes biglumis, a Paper Wasp from Mountainous Regions |
title_full_unstemmed | The Respiratory Metabolism of Polistes biglumis, a Paper Wasp from Mountainous Regions |
title_short | The Respiratory Metabolism of Polistes biglumis, a Paper Wasp from Mountainous Regions |
title_sort | respiratory metabolism of polistes biglumis, a paper wasp from mountainous regions |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7142496/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32143398 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects11030165 |
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