Evaporation from the Meal-worm (Tenebrio: Coleoptera) and atmospheric Humidity.
Evaporation from the Meal-worm (Tenebrio: Coleoptera) and atmospheric Humidity.
复制标题
粉虫（黄粉虫：鞘翅目）的蒸发和大气湿度。
DOI：
--
复制
发表时间：
--
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
P. A. Buxton
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
P. A. Buxton
昆虫学家普遍认为，昆虫的季节和地理分布既受温度的影响，也受大气湿度的影响，但奇怪的是，对这一问题的确切生理学进行的关键性工作却很少。在我看来，问题的核心是——昆虫与其所处环境的湿度之间的关系很可能是“简单的”，因为昆虫体内水分的流失取决于某种物理规律。例如，水的损失可能是由相对湿度或蒸气压直接决定的，但更有可能是由饱和度不足决定的；我这样说，是根据绿叶和温血哺乳动物的类比，以及蒸发的物理规律来论证的。但更有可能的是，这种关系是“复杂的”；因为我们没有考虑简单的或光滑的表面的水分流失，至少有一部分水分流失发生在气管系统内，气管的管道分支到昆虫身体的各个部分。我们可以肯定，如果把昆虫放在干燥的空气中，气管内的空气会比外面的空气更接近饱和。我们还必须记住一种可能性，即昆虫可以通过关闭气管与外界空气相通的气门来控制气管系统的水分流失。此外，昆虫的一般新陈代谢可能会受到其所处环境的湿度或干燥程度的影响。
It is a matter of general agreement among entomologists that the seasonal and geographical distribution of insects is as much determined by atmospheric moisture as it is by temperature, but it is curious that very little critical work has been carried out on the precise physiology of this problem. As it appears to me, the kernel of the matter is this—it is possible that the relation between the insect and the humidity of the atmosphere in which it lives is “simple,” in the sense that the loss of water from the insect depends on some physical law. For instance, it may be that the loss of water is directly determined by relative humidity or by vapour pressure, but it is more probable that it is determined by saturation deficiency ; in saying this I argue from the analogy of the green leaf and the warm-blooded mammal, and also from the physical laws of evaporation. But it is more probable that the relation is “complex” ; for we are not considering the loss of water from a simple or smooth surface, and some at least of the loss will take place within the tracheal system, the tubes of which ramify to all parts of the insect’s body: and we may surely feel certain that the air in the tracheal tubes will be more nearly saturated with moisture than that outside, if the insect is kept in a dry atmosphere. We must also remember the possibility that the insect can control loss of water from the tracheal system by closing the spiracles through which the tracheal tubes communicate with the outside air. Furthermore, the general metabolism of the insect may be affected by the moisture or dryness of the atmosphere in which it is living.