House Crickets

The Affect of the Environment on the Carbon Dioxide Production of Certain Cricket Species

The average amount of carbon dioxide produced per minute was compared between two different species of crickets, the field cricket and the house cricket. It can be seen from the results that the field cricket produces more carbon dioxide per minute than the house cricket. Since the two different species differ in natural habitat, the difference in temperature can be said to have an affect on the amount of carbon dioxide they are able to produce per minute. In addition, the metabolic rates of the crickets and their exposure to chemicals such as certain insecticides will ultimately have an impact on
This may have been caused by the different environments that the two species of crickets have been exposed to. While the field cricket is mostly found in outdoor areas such as fields and meadows, the house cricket tends to live indoors or close to buildings where they have access to heat and food. This difference in habitat results in the field cricket rearing it’s eggs in a colder temperature, as opposed to the more stable room temperature where the house cricket would be most likely to produce it’s young. It has been found that when cold-blooded organisms such as crickets rear their young in a colder environment, they ultimately develop larger bodies than organisms reared at warmer temperatures. This theory is known as the “temperature size rule” (Atkinson, 1994). If field crickets are born in a lower temperature than house crickets, then according to this theory they will grow to a larger size. This may be the reason for the higher carbon dioxide production since the cricket species with the larger overall body will have more surface area to produce carbon dioxide with. Therefore, since field crickets are born in an environment with a lower average temperature than house crickets, they will ultimately grow to a slightly larger size allowing them to produce more micro-liters of carbon dioxide per