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Surface area–volume ratios in insects
Author(s) -
Kühsel Sara,
Brückner Adrian,
Schmelzle Sebastian,
Heethoff Michael,
Blüthgen Nico
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
insect science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.991
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1744-7917
pISSN - 1672-9609
DOI - 10.1111/1744-7917.12362
Subject(s) - allometry , biology , context (archaeology) , scaling , volume (thermodynamics) , body surface , lepidoptera genitalia , surface (topology) , insect , ecology , geometry , mathematics , physics , paleontology , quantum mechanics
Body mass, volume and surface area are important for many aspects of the physiology and performance of species. Whereas body mass scaling received a lot of attention in the literature, surface areas of animals have not been measured explicitly in this context. We quantified surface area–volume ( SA / V ) ratios for the first time using 3D surface models based on a structured light scanning method for 126 species of pollinating insects from 4 orders (Diptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, and Coleoptera). Water loss of 67 species was measured gravimetrically at very dry conditions for 2 h at 15 and 30 °C to demonstrate the applicability of the new 3D surface measurements and relevance for predicting the performance of insects. Quantified SA / V ratios significantly explained the variation in water loss across species, both directly or after accounting for isometric scaling (residuals of the SA / V ∼ mass 2/3 relationship). Small insects with a proportionally larger surface area had the highest water loss rates. Surface scans of insects to quantify allometric SA / V ratios thus provide a promising method to predict physiological responses, improving the potential of body mass isometry alone that assume geometric similarity.