Insect winter ecology
Encyclopedia
Insect winter ecology entails the overwinter
survival strategies of insect
s, which are in many respects more similar to those of plants than to many other animals, such as mammals and birds. This is because unlike those animals, which can generate their own heat internally (endothermic
), insects must rely on external sources to provide their heat (ectotherm
ic). Thus, insects sticking around in the winter, must tolerate freezing
or rely on their surroundings to provide enough heat to avoid freezing. Loss of enzymatic function and eventual freezing due to low temperatures daily threatens the livelihood of these organisms during winter. Not surprisingly, insects have evolved a number of strategies to deal with the rigors of winter temperatures in places where they would otherwise not survive.
. The first, migration, is a complete avoidance of the temperatures that pose a threat. If an insect cannot migrate, then it must stay and deal with the cold temperatures in one of two ways. This cold hardiness is separated into two categories, freeze avoidance and freeze tolerance.
is a two-way, round-trip movement of each individual, whereas this is not usually the case with insects. The short lifespan of insects compared to birds means that the adult that made one leg of the trip will be replaced by a member of the next generation on the return voyage. As a result, invertebrate
biologist
s have redefined migration for this group of organisms as consisting of three parts:
This definition allows for mass insect movements to be considered as migration. Perhaps the best known insect migration is that of the monarch butterfly
. The monarch in North America
migrates from as far north as Canada
southward to Mexico
and Southern California
annually from about August to October. The population east of the Rocky Mountains overwinters in Michoacán, Mexico, and the western population overwinters in various sites in central coastal California, notably in Pacific Grove and Santa Cruz. The round trip journey is typically around 3600 km in length. The longest one-way flight on record for monarchs is an astonishing 3009 km from Ontario
, Canada to San Luis Potosí
, Mexico. They use the direction of sunlight and magnetic cues to orient themselves during migration.
The monarch requires significant energy to make such a long flight, which is provided by fat reserves. When they reach their overwintering sites, they begin a period of lowered metabolic rate. Nectar from flowers procured at the overwintering site provides energy for the northward migration. To limit their energy use, monarchs congregate in large clusters in order to maintain a suitable temperature. This strategy, similar to huddling in small mammals, makes use of body heat from all the organisms and lowers heat loss.
Another common winter migrant insect, found in much of North America, South America, and the Caribbean
, is the Green Darner
. Migration patterns in this species are much less studied than those of monarchs. Green darners leave their northern ranges in September and migrate south. Studies have noted a seasonal influx of green darners to southern Florida, which indicates migratory behavior. Little has been done with tracking of the green darner, and reasons for migration are not fully understood since there are both resident and migrant populations. The common cue for migration southward in this species is the onset of winter.
(MP) of their body fluids; therefore, insects that do not migrate from regions with the onset of colder temperatures must either devise strategies to tolerate or avoid freezing of intracellular
and extracellular
body fluids. Surviving colder temperatures, in insects, generally falls under two categories: Freeze-tolerant insects can tolerate the formation of internal ice and freeze-avoidant insects avoid freezing by keeping the bodily fluids liquid. The general strategy adopted by insects also differs between the northern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere. In the northern hemisphere where cold temperatures are expected seasonally and are usually for long periods of time, the main strategy is freeze avoidance. In the southern hemisphere, where seasonal cold temperatures are not as extreme or long lasting, the main strategy is freeze tolerance.
Freeze avoidance involves both physiological and biochemical mechanisms. One method of freeze avoidance is the selection of a dry hibernation site in which no ice nucleation
from an external source can occur. Insects may also have a physical barrier such as a wax-coated cuticle that provides protection against external ice across the cuticle. The stage of development at which an insect over-winters varies across species, but can occur at any point of the life cycle (i.e., egg, pupa, larva, and adult).
Freeze-avoidant insects that cannot tolerate the formation of ice within their bodily fluids need to implement strategies to depress the temperature at which their bodily fluids will freeze. Supercooling
is the process by which water cools below its freezing point without changing phase into a solid, due to the lack of a nucleation source. Water requires a particle such as dust in order to crystallize and if no source of nucleation is introduced, water can cool down to -42°C without freezing. In the initial phase of seasonal cold hardening
, ice-nucleating agents (INAs) such as food particles, dust particles and bacteria, in the gut or intracellular compartments of freeze avoidant insects have to be removed or inactivated. Removal of ice-nucleating material from the gut can be achieved by cessation in feeding, clearing the gut and removing lipoprotein
ice nucleators (LPINs) from the heamolymph
and in some species, by the shedding of the mid-gut during moult
ing.
In addition to physical preparations for winter, many insects also alter their biochemistry and metabolism. For example, some insects synthesize cryoprotectant
s such as polyol
s and sugars, which reduce the lethal freezing temperature of the body. Although polyols such as sorbitol
, mannitol
, and ethylene glycol
can also be found, glycerol
is by far the most common cryoprotectant and can be equivalent to ~20% of the total body mass. Glycerol is distributed uniformly throughout the head, the thorax, and the abdomen of insects, and is in equal concentration in intracellular and extracellular compartments. The depressive effect of glycerol on the super cooling point (SCP) is thought to be due to the high viscosity
of glycerol solutions at low temperatures. This would inhibit INA activity and SCPs would drop far below the environmental temperature. At colder temperatures (below 0 °C), glycogen production is inhibited, and the breakdown of glycogen into glycerol is enhanced, resulting in the glycerol levels in freeze avoidant insects reaching levels five times higher than those in freeze tolerant insects which do not need to cope with extended periods of cold temperatures.
Though not all freeze avoidant insects produce polyols, all hibernating insects produce thermal hysteresis factors (THFs). A seasonal photoperiodic
timing mechanism is responsible for increasing the antifreeze protein
levels with concentrations reaching their highest in the winter. In the pyrochroid beetle, ‘’Dendroides canadensis’’, a short photoperiod of 8 hours light and 16 hours of darkness, results in the highest levels of THFs, which corresponds with the shortening of daylight hours associated with winter. These antifreeze proteins are thought to stabilize SCPs by binding directly to the surface structures of the ice crystals themselves, diminishing crystal size and growth. Therefore, instead of acting to change the biochemistry of the bodily fluids as seen with cryoprotectants, THFs act directly with the ice crystals by adsorbing
to the developing crystals to inhibit their growth and reduce the chance of lethal freezing occurring.
and extracellular
freezing causes severe tissue damage, resulting in death. Insects that have evolved freeze-tolerance strategies manage to avoid tissue damage by controlling where, when, and to what extent ice forms. In contrast to freeze avoiding insects that are able to exist in cold conditions by supercooling
, freeze tolerant organisms limit supercooling and initiate the freezing of their body fluids at relatively high temperatures. Physiologically, this is accomplished through inoculative freezing, the production of ice nucleating proteins, crystalloid compounds, and/or microbes.
Although freeze-avoidance strategies predominate in the insects, freeze tolerance has evolved at least six times within this group (in the Lepidoptera
, Blattaria, Diptera
, Orthoptera
, Coleoptera, and Hymenoptera
). Freeze tolerance is also more prevalent in insects from the Southern Hemisphere (reported in 85% of species studied) than it is in insects from the Northern Hemisphere (reported in 29% of species studied). It has been suggested that this may be due to the Southern Hemisphere's greater climate variability, where insects must be able to survive sudden cold snaps yet take advantage of unseasonably warm weather as well. This is in contrast to the Northern Hemisphere, where predictable weather makes it more advantageous to overwinter after extensive seasonal cold hardening.
Examples of freeze tolerant insects include: the woolly bear Pyrrharctia isabella, the flightless midge Belgica antarctica
and the alpine cockroach
Celatoblatta quinquemaculata.
Freeze-tolerant insects are known to produce ice nucleating proteins. The regulated production of ice nucleating proteins allows insects to control the formation of ice crystals within their bodies. The lower an insects’ body temperature, the more likely it is that ice will begin to form spontaneously. Even freeze-tolerant animals cannot tolerate a sudden, total freeze; for most freeze-tolerant insects it is important that they avoid supercooling and initiate ice formation at relatively warm temperatures. This allows the insect to moderate the rate of ice growth, adjust more slowly to the mechanical and osmotic pressures imposed by ice formation.
Nucleating proteins may be produced by the insect, or by microorganisms that have become associated with the insects’ tissues. These microorganisms possess proteins within their cell walls that function as nuclei for ice growth.
The temperature that a particular ice nucleator initiates freezing varies from molecule to molecule. Although an organism may possess a number of different ice nucleating proteins, only those that initiate freezing at the highest temperature will catalyze an ice nucleation event. Once freezing is initiated, ice will spread throughout the insect’s body.
. As too much dehydration can be dangerous to cells, many insects possess high concentrations of solutes such as glycerol. Glycerol is a relatively polar molecule and therefore attracts water molecules, shifting the osmotic balance and holding some water inside the cells. As a result, cryoprotectants like glycerol decrease the amount of ice that forms outside of cells and reduce cellular dehydration. Insect cryoprotectants are also important for species that avoid freezing; see description above
s practice communal hibernation by stacking one on top of one another on stumps and under rocks to share heat and buffer themselves against winter temperatures. The female grasshopper
(family Tettigoniidae [long-horned]), in an attempt to keep her eggs safe through the winter, tunnels into the soil and deposits her eggs as deep as possible in the ground. Many other insects, including various butterflies
and moth
s also overwinter in soil in the egg stage. Some adult beetle
s hibernate underground during winter; many flies overwinter in the soil as pupae. Other methods of hibernation include the inhabitance of bark, where insects nest more toward the southern side of the tree for heat provided by the sun. Cocoons, gall
s, and parasitism
are also common methods of hibernation.
invertebrates will experience some subfreezing temperatures, especially in small streams. Aquatic insects have developed freeze tolerance much like their terrestrial
counterparts. However, freeze avoidance is not an option for aquatic insects as the presence of ice in their surroundings may cause ice nucleation in their tissues. Aquatic insects have supercooling points typically around – 3º to – 7°C. In addition to using freeze tolerance, many aquatic insects migrate deeper into the water body where the temperatures are higher than at the surface. Insects such as stoneflies
, mayflies
, caddisflies
, and dragonflies
are common overwintering aquatic insects. The dance fly
larva
e have the lowest reported supercooling point for an aquatic insect at – 22°C.
Overwinter
To overwinter is to pass through or wait out the winter season, or to pass through that period of the year when “winter” conditions make normal activity or even survival difficult or near impossible...
survival strategies of insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s, which are in many respects more similar to those of plants than to many other animals, such as mammals and birds. This is because unlike those animals, which can generate their own heat internally (endothermic
Endothermic
In thermodynamics, the word endothermic describes a process or reaction in which the system absorbs energy from the surroundings in the form of heat. Its etymology stems from the prefix endo- and the Greek word thermasi,...
), insects must rely on external sources to provide their heat (ectotherm
Ectotherm
An ectotherm, from the Greek εκτός "outside" and θερμός "hot", refers to organisms that control body temperature through external means. As a result, organisms are dependent on environmental heat sources and have relatively low metabolic rates. For example, many reptiles regulate their body...
ic). Thus, insects sticking around in the winter, must tolerate freezing
Freezing
Freezing or solidification is a phase change in which a liquid turns into a solid when its temperature is lowered below its freezing point. The reverse process is melting....
or rely on their surroundings to provide enough heat to avoid freezing. Loss of enzymatic function and eventual freezing due to low temperatures daily threatens the livelihood of these organisms during winter. Not surprisingly, insects have evolved a number of strategies to deal with the rigors of winter temperatures in places where they would otherwise not survive.
Survival strategies
Two major strategies for winter survival have evolved in the Class Insecta due to their inability to generate significant heat metabolicallyMetabolism
Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that happen in the cells of living organisms to sustain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. Metabolism is usually divided into two categories...
. The first, migration, is a complete avoidance of the temperatures that pose a threat. If an insect cannot migrate, then it must stay and deal with the cold temperatures in one of two ways. This cold hardiness is separated into two categories, freeze avoidance and freeze tolerance.
Migration
Migration in insects is different than in birds. Bird migrationBird migration
Bird migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. Sometimes, journeys are not termed "true migration" because they are irregular or in only one direction...
is a two-way, round-trip movement of each individual, whereas this is not usually the case with insects. The short lifespan of insects compared to birds means that the adult that made one leg of the trip will be replaced by a member of the next generation on the return voyage. As a result, invertebrate
Invertebrate
An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...
biologist
Biologist
A biologist is a scientist devoted to and producing results in biology through the study of life. Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship to their environment. Biologists involved in basic research attempt to discover underlying mechanisms that govern how organisms work...
s have redefined migration for this group of organisms as consisting of three parts:
- A persistent, straight line movement away from the natal area
- Distinctive pre- and post-movement behaviors
- Re-allocation of energy within the body associated with the movement
This definition allows for mass insect movements to be considered as migration. Perhaps the best known insect migration is that of the monarch butterfly
Monarch butterfly
The Monarch butterfly is a milkweed butterfly , in the family Nymphalidae. It is perhaps the best known of all North American butterflies. Since the 19th century, it has been found in New Zealand, and in Australia since 1871 where it is called the Wanderer...
. The monarch in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
migrates from as far north as Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
southward to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
annually from about August to October. The population east of the Rocky Mountains overwinters in Michoacán, Mexico, and the western population overwinters in various sites in central coastal California, notably in Pacific Grove and Santa Cruz. The round trip journey is typically around 3600 km in length. The longest one-way flight on record for monarchs is an astonishing 3009 km from Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada to San Luis Potosí
San Luis Potosí
San Luis Potosí officially Estado Libre y Soberano de San Luis Potosí is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and its capital city is San Luis Potosí....
, Mexico. They use the direction of sunlight and magnetic cues to orient themselves during migration.
The monarch requires significant energy to make such a long flight, which is provided by fat reserves. When they reach their overwintering sites, they begin a period of lowered metabolic rate. Nectar from flowers procured at the overwintering site provides energy for the northward migration. To limit their energy use, monarchs congregate in large clusters in order to maintain a suitable temperature. This strategy, similar to huddling in small mammals, makes use of body heat from all the organisms and lowers heat loss.
Another common winter migrant insect, found in much of North America, South America, and the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
, is the Green Darner
Green Darner
The Green Darner or Common Green Darner , after its resemblance to a darning-needle, is a species of dragonfly in the family Aeshnidae. One of the most common and abundant species throughout North America and its range south to Panama. It is well known for its great migration distance from the...
. Migration patterns in this species are much less studied than those of monarchs. Green darners leave their northern ranges in September and migrate south. Studies have noted a seasonal influx of green darners to southern Florida, which indicates migratory behavior. Little has been done with tracking of the green darner, and reasons for migration are not fully understood since there are both resident and migrant populations. The common cue for migration southward in this species is the onset of winter.
Freeze Avoidance
Lethal freezing occurs when insects are exposed to temperatures below the melting pointMelting point
The melting point of a solid is the temperature at which it changes state from solid to liquid. At the melting point the solid and liquid phase exist in equilibrium. The melting point of a substance depends on pressure and is usually specified at standard atmospheric pressure...
(MP) of their body fluids; therefore, insects that do not migrate from regions with the onset of colder temperatures must either devise strategies to tolerate or avoid freezing of intracellular
Intracellular
Not to be confused with intercellular, meaning "between cells".In cell biology, molecular biology and related fields, the word intracellular means "inside the cell".It is used in contrast to extracellular...
and extracellular
Extracellular
In cell biology, molecular biology and related fields, the word extracellular means "outside the cell". This space is usually taken to be outside the plasma membranes, and occupied by fluid...
body fluids. Surviving colder temperatures, in insects, generally falls under two categories: Freeze-tolerant insects can tolerate the formation of internal ice and freeze-avoidant insects avoid freezing by keeping the bodily fluids liquid. The general strategy adopted by insects also differs between the northern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere. In the northern hemisphere where cold temperatures are expected seasonally and are usually for long periods of time, the main strategy is freeze avoidance. In the southern hemisphere, where seasonal cold temperatures are not as extreme or long lasting, the main strategy is freeze tolerance.
Freeze avoidance involves both physiological and biochemical mechanisms. One method of freeze avoidance is the selection of a dry hibernation site in which no ice nucleation
Nucleation
Nucleation is the extremely localized budding of a distinct thermodynamic phase. Some examples of phases that may form by way of nucleation in liquids are gaseous bubbles, crystals or glassy regions. Creation of liquid droplets in saturated vapor is also characterized by nucleation...
from an external source can occur. Insects may also have a physical barrier such as a wax-coated cuticle that provides protection against external ice across the cuticle. The stage of development at which an insect over-winters varies across species, but can occur at any point of the life cycle (i.e., egg, pupa, larva, and adult).
Freeze-avoidant insects that cannot tolerate the formation of ice within their bodily fluids need to implement strategies to depress the temperature at which their bodily fluids will freeze. Supercooling
Supercooling
Supercooling, also known as undercooling, is the process of lowering the temperature of a liquid or a gas below its freezing point without it becoming a solid....
is the process by which water cools below its freezing point without changing phase into a solid, due to the lack of a nucleation source. Water requires a particle such as dust in order to crystallize and if no source of nucleation is introduced, water can cool down to -42°C without freezing. In the initial phase of seasonal cold hardening
Cold hardening
Cold hardening is the physiological and biochemical process by which an organism prepares for cold weather.-Plants:During the winter months, as the leaves fall off deciduous species and the temperature drops, the cold forces a stop to water movement in plants. Freezing water can also cause...
, ice-nucleating agents (INAs) such as food particles, dust particles and bacteria, in the gut or intracellular compartments of freeze avoidant insects have to be removed or inactivated. Removal of ice-nucleating material from the gut can be achieved by cessation in feeding, clearing the gut and removing lipoprotein
Lipoprotein
A lipoprotein is a biochemical assembly that contains both proteins and lipids water-bound to the proteins. Many enzymes, transporters, structural proteins, antigens, adhesins, and toxins are lipoproteins...
ice nucleators (LPINs) from the heamolymph
Hemolymph
Hemolymph, or haemolymph, is a fluid in the circulatory system of some arthropods and is analogous to the fluids and cells making up both blood and interstitial fluid in vertebrates such as birds and mammals...
and in some species, by the shedding of the mid-gut during moult
Moult
In biology, moulting or molting , also known as sloughing, shedding, or for some species, ecdysis, is the manner in which an animal routinely casts off a part of its body , either at specific times of year, or at specific points in its life cycle.Moulting can involve the epidermis , pelage...
ing.
In addition to physical preparations for winter, many insects also alter their biochemistry and metabolism. For example, some insects synthesize cryoprotectant
Cryoprotectant
A cryoprotectant is a substance that is used to protect biological tissue from freezing damage . Arctic and Antarctic insects, fish, amphibians and reptiles create cryoprotectants in their bodies to minimize freezing damage during cold winter periods. Insects most often use sugars or polyols as...
s such as polyol
Polyol
A polyol is an alcohol containing multiple hydroxyl groups. In two technological disciplines the term "polyol" has a special meaning: food science and polymer chemistry.- Polyols in food science :...
s and sugars, which reduce the lethal freezing temperature of the body. Although polyols such as sorbitol
Sorbitol
Sorbitol, also known as glucitol, Sorbogem® and Sorbo®, is a sugar alcohol that the human body metabolizes slowly. It can be obtained by reduction of glucose, changing the aldehyde group to a hydroxyl group. Sorbitol is found in apples, pears, peaches, and prunes...
, mannitol
Mannitol
Mannitol is a white, crystalline organic compound with the formula . This polyol is used as an osmotic diuretic agent and a weak renal vasodilator...
, and ethylene glycol
Ethylene glycol
Ethylene glycol is an organic compound widely used as an automotive antifreeze and a precursor to polymers. In its pure form, it is an odorless, colorless, syrupy, sweet-tasting liquid...
can also be found, glycerol
Glycerol
Glycerol is a simple polyol compound. It is a colorless, odorless, viscous liquid that is widely used in pharmaceutical formulations. Glycerol has three hydroxyl groups that are responsible for its solubility in water and its hygroscopic nature. The glycerol backbone is central to all lipids...
is by far the most common cryoprotectant and can be equivalent to ~20% of the total body mass. Glycerol is distributed uniformly throughout the head, the thorax, and the abdomen of insects, and is in equal concentration in intracellular and extracellular compartments. The depressive effect of glycerol on the super cooling point (SCP) is thought to be due to the high viscosity
Viscosity
Viscosity is a measure of the resistance of a fluid which is being deformed by either shear or tensile stress. In everyday terms , viscosity is "thickness" or "internal friction". Thus, water is "thin", having a lower viscosity, while honey is "thick", having a higher viscosity...
of glycerol solutions at low temperatures. This would inhibit INA activity and SCPs would drop far below the environmental temperature. At colder temperatures (below 0 °C), glycogen production is inhibited, and the breakdown of glycogen into glycerol is enhanced, resulting in the glycerol levels in freeze avoidant insects reaching levels five times higher than those in freeze tolerant insects which do not need to cope with extended periods of cold temperatures.
Though not all freeze avoidant insects produce polyols, all hibernating insects produce thermal hysteresis factors (THFs). A seasonal photoperiodic
Photoperiodism
Photoperiodism is the physiological reaction of organisms to the length of day or night. It occurs in plants and animals.Photoperiodism can also be defined as the developmental responses of plants to the relative lengths of the light and dark periods...
timing mechanism is responsible for increasing the antifreeze protein
Antifreeze protein
Antifreeze proteins or ice structuring proteins refer to a class of polypeptides produced by certain vertebrates, plants, fungi and bacteria that permit their survival in subzero environments. AFPs bind to small ice crystals to inhibit growth and recrystallization of ice that would otherwise be...
levels with concentrations reaching their highest in the winter. In the pyrochroid beetle, ‘’Dendroides canadensis’’, a short photoperiod of 8 hours light and 16 hours of darkness, results in the highest levels of THFs, which corresponds with the shortening of daylight hours associated with winter. These antifreeze proteins are thought to stabilize SCPs by binding directly to the surface structures of the ice crystals themselves, diminishing crystal size and growth. Therefore, instead of acting to change the biochemistry of the bodily fluids as seen with cryoprotectants, THFs act directly with the ice crystals by adsorbing
Adsorption
Adsorption is the adhesion of atoms, ions, biomolecules or molecules of gas, liquid, or dissolved solids to a surface. This process creates a film of the adsorbate on the surface of the adsorbent. It differs from absorption, in which a fluid permeates or is dissolved by a liquid or solid...
to the developing crystals to inhibit their growth and reduce the chance of lethal freezing occurring.
Freeze Tolerance
Freeze tolerance in insects refers to the ability of some insect species to survive ice formation within their tissues. All insects are ectothermic, which can make them vulnerable to freezing. In most animals, intra-Intracellular
Not to be confused with intercellular, meaning "between cells".In cell biology, molecular biology and related fields, the word intracellular means "inside the cell".It is used in contrast to extracellular...
and extracellular
Extracellular
In cell biology, molecular biology and related fields, the word extracellular means "outside the cell". This space is usually taken to be outside the plasma membranes, and occupied by fluid...
freezing causes severe tissue damage, resulting in death. Insects that have evolved freeze-tolerance strategies manage to avoid tissue damage by controlling where, when, and to what extent ice forms. In contrast to freeze avoiding insects that are able to exist in cold conditions by supercooling
Supercooling
Supercooling, also known as undercooling, is the process of lowering the temperature of a liquid or a gas below its freezing point without it becoming a solid....
, freeze tolerant organisms limit supercooling and initiate the freezing of their body fluids at relatively high temperatures. Physiologically, this is accomplished through inoculative freezing, the production of ice nucleating proteins, crystalloid compounds, and/or microbes.
Although freeze-avoidance strategies predominate in the insects, freeze tolerance has evolved at least six times within this group (in the Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...
, Blattaria, Diptera
Diptera
Diptera , or true flies, is the order of insects possessing only a single pair of wings on the mesothorax; the metathorax bears a pair of drumstick like structures called the halteres, the remnants of the hind wings. It is a large order, containing an estimated 240,000 species, although under half...
, Orthoptera
Orthoptera
Orthoptera is an order of insects with paurometabolous or incomplete metamorphosis, including the grasshoppers, crickets and locusts.Many insects in this order produce sound by rubbing their wings against each other or their legs, the wings or legs containing rows of corrugated bumps...
, Coleoptera, and Hymenoptera
Hymenoptera
Hymenoptera is one of the largest orders of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees and ants. There are over 130,000 recognized species, with many more remaining to be described. The name refers to the heavy wings of the insects, and is derived from the Ancient Greek ὑμήν : membrane and...
). Freeze tolerance is also more prevalent in insects from the Southern Hemisphere (reported in 85% of species studied) than it is in insects from the Northern Hemisphere (reported in 29% of species studied). It has been suggested that this may be due to the Southern Hemisphere's greater climate variability, where insects must be able to survive sudden cold snaps yet take advantage of unseasonably warm weather as well. This is in contrast to the Northern Hemisphere, where predictable weather makes it more advantageous to overwinter after extensive seasonal cold hardening.
Examples of freeze tolerant insects include: the woolly bear Pyrrharctia isabella, the flightless midge Belgica antarctica
Belgica antarctica
Belgica antarctica is a species of flightless midge endemic to the continent of Antarctica. At 2–6 mm long, it is the largest purely terrestrial animal on the continent, as well as its only true insect. Its flightlessness may be an adaptation to prevent wind from blowing it into inhospitable sites...
and the alpine cockroach
Cockroach
Cockroaches are insects of the order Blattaria or Blattodea, of which about 30 species out of 4,500 total are associated with human habitations...
Celatoblatta quinquemaculata.
Dangers of Freezing
With some exceptions, the formation of ice within cells generally causes cell death even in freeze-tolerant species due to physical stresses exerted as ice crystals expand. Ice formation in extracellular spaces is also problematic, as it removes water from solution through the process of osmosis, causing the cellular environment to become hypertonic and draw water from the cell interiors. Excessive cell shrinkage can cause severe damage. This is because as ice forms outside the cell, the possible shapes that can be assumed by the cells are increasingly limited, causing damaging deformation. Finally, the expansion of ice within vessels and other spaces can cause physical damage to structures and tissues.Ice Nucleators
In order for a body of water to freeze, a nucleus must be present upon which an ice crystal can begin to grow. At low temperatures, nuclei may arise spontaneously from clusters of slow-moving water molecules. Alternatively, substances that facilitate the aggregation of water molecules can increase the probability that they will reach the critical size necessary for ice formation.Freeze-tolerant insects are known to produce ice nucleating proteins. The regulated production of ice nucleating proteins allows insects to control the formation of ice crystals within their bodies. The lower an insects’ body temperature, the more likely it is that ice will begin to form spontaneously. Even freeze-tolerant animals cannot tolerate a sudden, total freeze; for most freeze-tolerant insects it is important that they avoid supercooling and initiate ice formation at relatively warm temperatures. This allows the insect to moderate the rate of ice growth, adjust more slowly to the mechanical and osmotic pressures imposed by ice formation.
Nucleating proteins may be produced by the insect, or by microorganisms that have become associated with the insects’ tissues. These microorganisms possess proteins within their cell walls that function as nuclei for ice growth.
The temperature that a particular ice nucleator initiates freezing varies from molecule to molecule. Although an organism may possess a number of different ice nucleating proteins, only those that initiate freezing at the highest temperature will catalyze an ice nucleation event. Once freezing is initiated, ice will spread throughout the insect’s body.
Cryoprotectants
The formation of ice in the extracellular fluid causes an overall movement of water out of cells, a phenomenon known as osmosisOsmosis
Osmosis is the movement of solvent molecules through a selectively permeable membrane into a region of higher solute concentration, aiming to equalize the solute concentrations on the two sides...
. As too much dehydration can be dangerous to cells, many insects possess high concentrations of solutes such as glycerol. Glycerol is a relatively polar molecule and therefore attracts water molecules, shifting the osmotic balance and holding some water inside the cells. As a result, cryoprotectants like glycerol decrease the amount of ice that forms outside of cells and reduce cellular dehydration. Insect cryoprotectants are also important for species that avoid freezing; see description above
Intracellular Freezing
Most freeze-tolerant species restrict ice formation to extracellular spaces. Some species, however, can tolerate intracellular freezing as well. This was first discovered in the fat body cells of the goldenrod gall fly Eurosta solidaginis. The fat body is an insect tissue that is important for lipid, protein and carbohydrate metabolism (analogous to the mammalian liver). Although it is not certain why intracellular freezing is restricted to the fat body tissue in some insects, there is evidence that it may be due to the low water content within fat body cells.Locations of hibernating insects
Insects are well hidden in winter, but there are several locations in which they can reliably be found. LadybugCoccinellidae
Coccinellidae is a family of beetles, known variously as ladybirds , or ladybugs . Scientists increasingly prefer the names ladybird beetles or lady beetles as these insects are not true bugs...
s practice communal hibernation by stacking one on top of one another on stumps and under rocks to share heat and buffer themselves against winter temperatures. The female grasshopper
Grasshopper
The grasshopper is an insect of the suborder Caelifera in the order Orthoptera. To distinguish it from bush crickets or katydids, it is sometimes referred to as the short-horned grasshopper...
(family Tettigoniidae [long-horned]), in an attempt to keep her eggs safe through the winter, tunnels into the soil and deposits her eggs as deep as possible in the ground. Many other insects, including various butterflies
Butterfly
A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...
and moth
Moth
A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...
s also overwinter in soil in the egg stage. Some adult beetle
Beetle
Coleoptera is an order of insects commonly called beetles. The word "coleoptera" is from the Greek , koleos, "sheath"; and , pteron, "wing", thus "sheathed wing". Coleoptera contains more species than any other order, constituting almost 25% of all known life-forms...
s hibernate underground during winter; many flies overwinter in the soil as pupae. Other methods of hibernation include the inhabitance of bark, where insects nest more toward the southern side of the tree for heat provided by the sun. Cocoons, gall
Gall
Galls or cecidia are outgrowths on the surface of lifeforms caused by invasion by other lifeforms, such as parasites or bacterial infection. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues and can be caused by various parasites, from fungi and bacteria, to insects and mites...
s, and parasitism
Parasitism
Parasitism is a type of symbiotic relationship between organisms of different species where one organism, the parasite, benefits at the expense of the other, the host. Traditionally parasite referred to organisms with lifestages that needed more than one host . These are now called macroparasites...
are also common methods of hibernation.
Aquatic insects
Insects that live under the water have different strategies for dealing with freezing than do terrestrial insects. Many insect species survive winter not as adults on land, but as larvae underneath the surface of the water. Under the water many benthicBenthic zone
The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean or a lake, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. Organisms living in this zone are called benthos. They generally live in close relationship with the substrate bottom; many such...
invertebrates will experience some subfreezing temperatures, especially in small streams. Aquatic insects have developed freeze tolerance much like their terrestrial
Terrestrial animal
Terrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land , as compared with aquatic animals, which live predominantly or entirely in the water , or amphibians, which rely on a combination of aquatic and terrestrial habitats...
counterparts. However, freeze avoidance is not an option for aquatic insects as the presence of ice in their surroundings may cause ice nucleation in their tissues. Aquatic insects have supercooling points typically around – 3º to – 7°C. In addition to using freeze tolerance, many aquatic insects migrate deeper into the water body where the temperatures are higher than at the surface. Insects such as stoneflies
Plecoptera
Plecoptera are an order of insects, commonly known as stoneflies. There are some 3,500 described species worldwide, with new species still being discovered. Stoneflies are found worldwide, except Antarctica...
, mayflies
Mayfly
Mayflies are insects which belong to the Order Ephemeroptera . They have been placed into an ancient group of insects termed the Palaeoptera, which also contains dragonflies and damselflies...
, caddisflies
Trichoptera
The caddisflies are an order, Trichoptera, of insects with approximately 12,000 described species. Also called sedge-flies or rail-flies, they are small moth-like insects having two pairs of hairy membranous wings...
, and dragonflies
Dragonfly
A dragonfly is a winged insect belonging to the order Odonata, the suborder Epiprocta or, in the strict sense, the infraorder Anisoptera . It is characterized by large multifaceted eyes, two pairs of strong transparent wings, and an elongated body...
are common overwintering aquatic insects. The dance fly
Empididae
Empididae is a family of flies with over 3,000 described species occurring worldwide, but the majority are found in the Holarctic. They are mainly predatory flies like most of their relatives in the Empidoidea, and exhibit a wide range of forms but are generally small to medium sized, non-metallic...
larva
Larva
A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
e have the lowest reported supercooling point for an aquatic insect at – 22°C.