Sensory perception and thermoregulation of Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricius) (Diptera: Calliphoridae) physiological and biomimetic approach.

• Grant number: 13/20627-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Effective date (Start): January 01, 2014
• Effective date (End): December 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Applied Zoology
• Principal Investigator: Roland Koberle
• Grantee: Guilherme Gomes
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física de São Carlos (IFSC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The environment presents seasonal fluctuations of various abiotic factors, which influence all living beings and are derived from physical and chemical aspects of the environment such as light, temperature, convection currents, pH, and others. Among these variables, the temperature is of great importance because it acts directly by changing the speed of reactions and biochemical processes, and thus, many animals spend time and energy trying to regulate body temperature, keeping it within limits, which can provide greater efficiency in physiological processes, allowing the survival of the species. Thus, when body temperature is raised above a certain level due to the increased heat load, either from exposure to a hot environment or from an increase in metabolic heat production, the animals exhibit mechanisms to improve this heat dissipation and thus promote a decrease in body temperature (T ° corp.) In the case of insects, no other environmental variable is more important and creates greater influence than temperature. In insects, thermogenesis produced during contraction of the thoracic muscles comes to increase by 10°C the temperature of the thorax in relation to other portions of the body, the insect consequently requires processes that assist the dissipation or optimally use of energy used to keep the flight or its activities. Thus, as previously observed and analyzed in Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricius) (Diptera: Calliphoridae), this insect has seasonal variations in the profile body temperature when exposed to different environments, and perform an interesting behavior thermoregulation, which needs to be better investigated. This animal model is of great interest because it is an insect with considerable agricultural, medico-sanitary and forensic importance. Besides being a model in processes bio-inspiration, navigation automata and the area of neuroscience (visual response - H1 neuron). In addition, some behaviors observed in insect thermoregulation showed a large heat flux to the head that appears to be associated with a reduced response time and, consequently, the sensitivity in visual perception. The objective of this study is to describe and evaluate the thermodynamic and thermoregulatory processes in C. megacephala and the influence of these mechanisms in sensory perception. This study will be instrumental in assisting in understanding the biology, physiology and behavior of the species, in addition, may serve as bio-inspiration in thermodynamic processes in engineering. Given that insects in general are excellent models for study and biomimicry, it is the largest taxon of adaptation to terrestrial environment due to anatomical, biochemical and physiological, that insects developed during its evolution.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

GOMES, GUILHERME; KOBERLE, ROLAND; VON ZUBEN, CLAUDIO J.; ANDRADE, DENIS V.. Droplet bubbling evaporatively cools a blowfly. SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, v. 8, APR 19 2018. (13/20627-8, 13/04190-9, 07/05080-1)