Cockroaches (a.k.a. Our Insect Overlords) Will Survive the Effects of Global Warming
Shanta Barley, New Scientist: Hate cockroaches? Best pour yourself a stiff drink. The widely loathed insects can hold their breath to save water, a new study has found — and the trick could help them to thrive in the face of climate change.
When cockroaches are resting, they periodically stop breathing for as long as 40 minutes, though why they do so has been unclear.
To investigate the mystery, Natalie Schimpf and her colleagues at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, examined whether speckled cockroaches (Nauphoeta cinerea) change their breathing pattern in response to changes in carbon dioxide or oxygen concentration, or humidity.
They conclude that cockroaches close the spiracles through which they breathe primarily to save water. In dry environments the insects took shorter breaths than in moist conditions.
“Cockroaches lose water across their respiratory surfaces when they breathe,” says Schimpf, “so taking shorter breaths in dry conditions reduces the amount of water they will lose.”
