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This article comes from the official account of Wechat: SF Chinese (ID:kexuejiaodian), author: SF

People breathe through their lungs, and fish breathe through their gills, so what kind of breathing do insects use? The answer is the tracheal system. The respiratory system of insects seems ordinary, but there is something unexpected about it.

(by Chen Qiang / tr. by Robert Taylor)

Insects are the most numerous and diverse animals on earth, but they have no lungs. Instead, they have an internal pipe system made up of trachea to breathe. Air can enter and leave the body through valves located on the exoskeleton of insects, usually on the abdomen and sides of insects. When the air enters, it can be transmitted to all parts of the body through a tree-like network of constantly branching trachea. The microtrachea at the end has a moist surface that makes it easier for oxygen to spread into the cells, while carbon dioxide can spread from the cells to the microtrachea.

Some scientists who used to think that insects can breathe actively have thought that this way of breathing is passive and slow because it depends on the spread of the air itself in the trachea. But in 2003, scientists found that some insects, including beetles, crickets, ants, butterflies, cockroaches and dragonflies, could also breathe actively by compressing and expanding the trachea of the head and chest.

Not all insects studied can take this kind of active breathing, but in those that breathe actively, the patterns of tracheal compression and expansion vary within individuals and between species.

Of the three most detailed species (drill beetles, domestic crickets and wood ants), they exchange air in the main trachea as efficiently as 50% per second with the help of tracheal compression and expansion mechanisms. This is similar to the air exchange efficiency of a person doing moderate exercise.

Scientists also believe that active tracheal breathing in the head and chest of insects may play an important role in the evolution of insect land movement and flight, and that they are a prerequisite for the evolution of more complex brain and sensory systems.

Why do some insects hold their breath? In nature, some insects close their valves from time to time to hold their breath, sometimes for hours or even days. Scientists have thought that their apnea may be to limit water loss, or to adapt to an environment filled with large amounts of carbon dioxide, but there is no hard evidence to support both.

In 2005, scientists discovered that the real cause was not what was previously thought. Studies have shown that although oxygen is essential for insects, too much oxygen can damage their body tissues. Therefore, insects need to control the opening and closing of the valves to avoid inhaling too much oxygen. When insects' valves need to be opened or closed depends on how much carbon dioxide they exhale without inhaling too much oxygen.

References:

Https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/01/030124075220.htm

Https://www.livescience.com/123-insects-hold-breath-days-air-kill.html

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