How Do Wasps Breathe Underwater?

During flight, wasps have a huge spiracular conductance. This is a sign of short-term high metabolic demands. However, it is not enough for gas exchange in adult insects.

Wasps are capable of holding breath for up to five minutes. They can also close off spiracles to prevent water penetration. In the process, they take in more oxygen from the water. This can be used to flush out their underground nests.

During the open phase, wasps rely on active ventilation. The abdominal pumping movements are often accompanied by leg or wing movement. The CO2 emission varies with the duration of these movements.

Wasps also release more CO2 than most insects. This is probably because they are very efficient at utilizing oxygen. They do not use their mouths to breathe air, instead they breathe through tiny holes in their abdomen.

The study also found that wasps breathe discontinuously at high temperatures. However, they showed cyclic CO2 emission at high temperatures. This was due to an exponential increase in respiration frequency. The data at 6.2 degC were not fit due to a high SD.

Wasps were also found to have a high resting metabolic rate. This is consistent with Hetz (2007)’ prediction. The resting metabolic rate is an important parameter that determines the frequency of respiration cycles. The fusion of the cycles depends on the relationship between the metabolic rate and the CO2 buffer capacity.

The respiration cycle of wasps was divided into three distinct phases. These were the open phase, the flutter phase, and the closed phase. These phases were not mutually exclusive, and each phase was observed for every individual.