Department of Biology, York University, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada.
J Exp Biol. 2021 Oct 15;224(20). doi: 10.1242/jeb.222190.
Salinization of freshwater is occurring throughout the world, affecting freshwater biota that inhabit rivers, streams, ponds, marshes and lakes. There are many freshwater insects, and these animals are important for ecosystem health. These insects have evolved physiological mechanisms to maintain their internal salt and water balance based on a freshwater environment that has comparatively little salt. In these habitats, insects must counter the loss of salts and dilution of their internal body fluids by sequestering salts and excreting water. Most of these insects can tolerate salinization of their habitats to a certain level; however, when exposed to salinization they often exhibit markers of stress and impaired development. An understanding of the physiological mechanisms for controlling salt and water balance in freshwater insects, and how these are affected by salinization, is needed to predict the consequences of salinization for freshwater ecosystems. Recent research in this area has addressed the whole-organism response, but the purpose of this Review is to summarize the effects of salinization on the osmoregulatory physiology of freshwater insects at the molecular to organ level. Research of this type is limited, and pursuing such lines of inquiry will improve our understanding of the effects of salinization on freshwater insects and the ecosystems they inhabit.
淡水的盐化正在世界范围内发生，影响到栖息在河流、溪流、池塘、沼泽和湖泊中的淡水生物群。有许多淡水昆虫，这些动物对生态系统的健康很重要。这些昆虫已经进化出了生理机制，以维持其基于相对较少盐分的淡水环境的内部盐分和水分平衡。在这些栖息地中，昆虫必须通过隔离盐分和排泄水分来防止盐分的流失和内部体液的稀释。大多数这些昆虫可以容忍其栖息地的一定程度的盐化；然而，当暴露在盐化环境中时，它们通常会表现出应激和发育受损的迹象。了解控制淡水昆虫盐分和水分平衡的生理机制，以及盐化如何影响这些机制，对于预测盐化对淡水生态系统的后果是必要的。该领域的最近研究已经解决了整个生物体的反应问题，但本综述的目的是总结盐化对淡水昆虫从分子到器官水平的渗透调节生理学的影响。这种类型的研究是有限的，开展这种探究将提高我们对盐化对淡水昆虫及其栖息生态系统的影响的理解。
