Physiology of Heat Sensitivity

This chapter explores the nature of heat injury and discusses the adaptations that allow insects to tolerate high temperature. Insects are enormously vulnerable to high temperature injury. Heat shock can also elicit interesting developmental abnormalities. These developmental alterations, known as phenocopies, frequently resemble known mutations. In Rhodnius prolixus and many other insects, heat stress is well known to delay molting or delay the onset of metamorphosis. Stresses that interfere with normal energy metabolism can increase an insect's sensitivity to thermal stress. The intriguing practical implication of thermosensitivity is that the pattern of administering a thermal stress has important consequences for the insect's survival. Responses to high temperature are among the best studied aspects of insect biology. Stresses that interfere with normal energy metabolism can increase an insect's sensitivity to thermal stress. Surprisingly little information is available concerning the role of hormones in eliciting insect stress responses, especially responses to high temperature.