Animals lose water through a variety of avenues, including evaporation from the skin surface, fecal water loss, urinary water loss and respiratory water loss. This last pathway, respiratory water loss, can be particularly important in small animals and in dry environments. It has long been realized that insects may be particularly vulnerable to rapid water loss due to their small size and their occurrence in dry environments (e.g. stored grain, desert habitats, saline lakes, etc.) . The PI is examining the rates and pathways of water loss in a very small insect, the fruit fly. The PI's goal is to understand how such water loss occurs and what the relation is to the insect's breathing pattern. Such work may be very helpful in developing new non-toxic insecticides and insect control strategies.
