Do Flies Need Oxygen to Live?
WouterOne way to study whether flies need oxygen to live is to study their metabolism. Flies’ metabolic rate at rest is very small compared to that during flight, which increases to ten times the resting metabolic rate. This indicates that the apparent safety margin for O2 delivery during flight is greatly reduced or even absent.
During a study, flies were exposed to varying O2 tensions and metabolic rates were measured at one hour intervals. The sampling intervals were increased to 1.5 h during periods of extreme hypoxia. The metabolic rate of hypoxic flies returned to pre-hypoxic levels after only one hour, despite a reduction in activity. Furthermore, flies can recover from hypoxia by regenerating the ATP levels depleted during anoxia.
Adult flies have a life span of about fifteen to twenty-five days. Some species live for two months. Their life span is increased by suitable food. They also tend to live longer in cooler temperatures. Adult flies need food before copulating, and it takes about two to fifteen minutes for them to mate. Female flies need protein to reproduce, and manure is not a good source of this.
The most common breeding areas for flies are indoors and outdoor. The most common places for these insects include ceilings, beams, trees, shrubs, grasses, and various types of outdoor wire. The best way to prevent flies from thriving indoors is to prevent them from consuming uncooked food.
