Desiccation tolerance

Desiccation tolerance refers to the ability of an organism to withstand or endure extreme dryness, or drought-like conditions. Plants and animals living in arid or periodically arid environments such as temporary streams or ponds may face the challenge of desiccation, therefore physiological or behavioral adaptations to withstand these periods are necessary to ensure survival. In particular, insects occupy a wide range of ecologically diverse niches and, so, exhibit a variety of strategies to avoid desiccation.

In general, desiccation resistance in insects is measured by the change in mass during dry conditions.^[1] The overall mass difference between measurements before and after aridity exposure is attributed to body water loss, as respiratory water loss is generally considered negligible.