Dehydration Helps Survive Freezing

Biological Strategy

Arctic springtail

AskNature Team

Protect From Temperature

Many living systems function best within specific temperature ranges. Temperatures higher or lower than that range can negatively impact a living system’s physiological or chemical processes, and damage its exterior or interior. Living systems must manage high or low temperatures using minimal energy, which often requires controlling responses along incremental temperature changes. To do so, living systems use a variety of strategies, such as avoiding high or low temperatures, removing excess heat, and holding heat in. Insulation is a well-known example of managing low temperatures by retaining heat using thick layers of hair, fur, or feathers to hold warm air next to the skin.

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Insects

Class Insecta (“an insect”): Flies, ants, beetles, cockroaches, fleas, dragonflies

Insects are the most abundant arthropods—they make up 90% of the animals in the phylum. They’re found everywhere on earth except the deep ocean, and scientists estimate there are millions of insects not yet described. Most live on land, but many live in freshwater or saltwater marshes for part of their life cycles. Insects have three distinct body sections: a head, which has specialized mouthparts, a thorax, which has jointed legs, and an abdomen. They have well-developed nervous and sensory systems, and are the only invertebrate that can fly, thanks to their lightweight exoskeletons and small size.

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The body of the Arctic springtail protects from freezing temperatures via protective dehydration.

“To survive the harsh cold of Arctic winters, animals living there have to get creative. The tiny, humpbacked arthropod known as the ‘springtail’ is no exception. Scientists have discovered it loses water and shrivels up in a process known as protective dehydration.

“Melody Clark of the British Antarctic Survey and colleagues studied the Arctic springtail Onychiurus arcticus, which is an arthropod that looks like a tiny insect. They found that springtails release the water in their body to avoid damage caused by freezing. Despite their unhealthy appearance, the bugs remain very much alive.

“‘During this process the body loses all its water and you end up with a normal-looking head, and a body which looks like a crumpled up crisp [chip] packet when it is fully dehydrated,’ says Clark. ‘But add a drop of water and it all goes back to normal.’ Clark presented the findings in April, at the Society for Experimental Biology annual meeting in Glasgow, UK.” (Khamsi 2007)