Insects survive the winter through a trick right out of science fiction

[astr0144]

Insects survive the winter through a trick right out of science fiction...

Answers: Where do insects go in the winter..

A question that I have always wondered ...



Where are these dragonflies headed? Probably south. BI Answers: Where do insects go in the winter?
In the summer, when the air is sticky and hot, insects are everywhere: circling your fruit bowl, marching across your picnic, buzzing in your ear, and sometimes — the worst of times — flying directly into your mouth.

But when temperatures drop, icicles form, and parkas come out of storage, the bugs seem to vanish completely from the chilliest corners of the world — until months later, like some kind of magic trick... they reappear, as if they'd been there all along.

Where did they go?

To find out, we talked to someone who has spent much of his research career pondering this very question: Brent Sinclair, the director of the Insect Low Temperature Biology Lab at the University of Western Ontario in Canada, where he is also an associate professor.

One reason most people are mystified by the fate of insects in the winter is because there is not a simple answer. Some survive as eggs, larvae, or pupae, while others make it through the winter as fully-grown adults.

In general though, there are three distinct survival strategies that get insects — and related critters, like spiders — through the winter. One of them (the last on our list!) seems strange enough to be science fiction.

1. Avoid the cold



see other suggestions in article below...

2. Carry on as usual

3. Freeze.


http://finance.yahoo.com/news/heres-happens-insects-winter-153259504.html