Insect flight metabolic rate revealed by bolus injection of the stable isotope (13)C

Measuring metabolic rate (MR) poses a formidable challenge in free-flying insects who cannot breathe into masks or be trained to fly in controlled settings. Consequently, flight MR has been predominantly measured on hovering or tethered insects flying in closed systems. Stable isotopes such as label...

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Autores principales: Urca, Tomer, Levin, Eran, Ribak, Gal
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Royal Society 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8242924/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34187193
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.1082
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author Urca, Tomer
Levin, Eran
Ribak, Gal
author_facet Urca, Tomer
Levin, Eran
Ribak, Gal
author_sort Urca, Tomer
collection PubMed
description Measuring metabolic rate (MR) poses a formidable challenge in free-flying insects who cannot breathe into masks or be trained to fly in controlled settings. Consequently, flight MR has been predominantly measured on hovering or tethered insects flying in closed systems. Stable isotopes such as labelled water allow measurement of MR in free-flying animals but integrates the measurement over long periods exceeding the average flight duration of insects. Here, we applied the ‘bolus injection of isotopic (13)C Na-bicarbonate’ method to insects to measure their flight MR and report a 90% accuracy compared to respirometry. We applied the method on two beetle species, measuring MR during free flight and tethered flight in a wind tunnel. We also demonstrate the ability to repeatedly use the technique on the same individual. Therefore, the method provides a simple, reliable and accurate tool that solves a long-lasting limitation on insect flight research by enabling the measurement of MR during free flight.
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spelling pubmed-82429242021-07-21 Insect flight metabolic rate revealed by bolus injection of the stable isotope (13)C Urca, Tomer Levin, Eran Ribak, Gal Proc Biol Sci Development and Physiology Measuring metabolic rate (MR) poses a formidable challenge in free-flying insects who cannot breathe into masks or be trained to fly in controlled settings. Consequently, flight MR has been predominantly measured on hovering or tethered insects flying in closed systems. Stable isotopes such as labelled water allow measurement of MR in free-flying animals but integrates the measurement over long periods exceeding the average flight duration of insects. Here, we applied the ‘bolus injection of isotopic (13)C Na-bicarbonate’ method to insects to measure their flight MR and report a 90% accuracy compared to respirometry. We applied the method on two beetle species, measuring MR during free flight and tethered flight in a wind tunnel. We also demonstrate the ability to repeatedly use the technique on the same individual. Therefore, the method provides a simple, reliable and accurate tool that solves a long-lasting limitation on insect flight research by enabling the measurement of MR during free flight. The Royal Society 2021-06-30 2021-06-30 /pmc/articles/PMC8242924/ /pubmed/34187193 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.1082 Text en © 2021 The Authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Development and Physiology
Urca, Tomer
Levin, Eran
Ribak, Gal
Insect flight metabolic rate revealed by bolus injection of the stable isotope (13)C
title Insect flight metabolic rate revealed by bolus injection of the stable isotope (13)C
title_full Insect flight metabolic rate revealed by bolus injection of the stable isotope (13)C
title_fullStr Insect flight metabolic rate revealed by bolus injection of the stable isotope (13)C
title_full_unstemmed Insect flight metabolic rate revealed by bolus injection of the stable isotope (13)C
title_short Insect flight metabolic rate revealed by bolus injection of the stable isotope (13)C
title_sort insect flight metabolic rate revealed by bolus injection of the stable isotope (13)c
topic Development and Physiology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8242924/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34187193
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.1082
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