Biological Characteristics and Energy Metabolism of Migrating Insects

Abstract

Through long-distance migration, insects not only find suitable breeding locations and increase the survival space and opportunities for the population but also facilitate large-scale material, energy, and information flow between regions, which is important in maintaining the stability of agricultural ecosystems and wider natural ecosystems. In this study, we summarize the changes in biological characteristics such as morphology, ovarian development, reproduction, and flight capability during the seasonal migration of the insect. In consideration of global research work, the interaction between flight and reproduction, the influence and regulation of the insulin-like and juvenile hormone on the flight and reproductive activities of migrating insects, and the types of energy substances, metabolic processes, and hormone regulation processes during insect flight are elaborated. This systematic review of the latest advances in the studies on insect migration biology and energy metabolism will help readers to better understand the biological behavior and regulation mechanism of the energy metabolism of insect migration.

Diel metabolic patterns revealed by in situ transcriptome and proteome in a vertically migratory copepod

“…All individuals used in this study were mature adult females, and consequently all were (1) engaged in vitellogenesis (production of yolk bodies) and (2) not moulting anymore. The variation in vitellogenin thus could be related to patterns in allocation of energy to reproductive investment over the daily cycle, as trade‐offs between migration and reproduction are well documented in the insect literature (Li et al., 2023). Alternatively, vitellogenin has been shown to act as an antioxidant, as well as to play a role in the immune system in other copepod taxa (Zhang et al., 2011).…”

“…There are distinct metabolic processes upregulated by these copepods while feeding at the surface at night and during the “non‐feeding” period at depth during the day, as well as responses to the periods of migration. Interestingly, the mobilization of carbohydrates, crucial for supporting short‐distance flights in insects (Li et al., 2023), mainly occurs in the afternoon and evening rather than twice per day. As this species is a dominant migrator in the region, responsible for an average of 23% of the migratory population biomass (Steinberg et al., 2000), more explicitly detailing how the physiology of P. xiphias responds to the suite of co‐varying environmental forces over the diel cycle has implications for our understanding of the local active flux of carbon and nitrogen in the Sargasso Sea.…”

“…The daytime “rest” period was a time of high transcriptional activity, suggestive of a recovery and repair period, which did not correlate to signals in the proteomic data or at the organismal level. Additional research on the signalling and energy mobilization pathways activated throughout the diel cycle, in both migratory and non‐migratory individuals or species, is crucial to understand how phenotypic variation in migratory behaviour can structure populations and help to drive speciation (as recently shown in insects; Li et al., 2023; Menz et al., 2019).…”