It’s not hard to imagine just how intense mundane rain for humans might be for insects, but what really occurs when it starts to pour on insects? A recent video released by researchers looking to study that very thing, shows just what happens when a water droplet many times the mass of a small insect lands on top of one.
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00 It's a classic scene from the Disney Pixar movie A Bug's Life, showing the ants' reaction
00:08 when the weather changes.
00:12 It's not hard to imagine just how intense mundane rain for humans might be for insects.
00:16 But what really occurs when it starts to pour for these tiny creatures?
00:20 This video was recently released by researchers looking to study that very thing, showing
00:24 just what happens when a water droplet many times the mass of a small insect lands on
00:28 top of one.
00:29 This study looked specifically at water striders, or insects that use surface tension to move
00:34 across it.
00:35 Using slow motion cameras, they were able to capture the very moment the water droplet
00:38 strikes and creates what they call a water crater.
00:41 While that might seem like a death sentence for a creature of this size, their observations
00:45 revealed just how they were able to survive.
00:48 When striders are pushed into the water, we observe the formation of an air bubble around
00:54 the body of the insect, which is attributed to the water-repellent nature of its exoskeleton.
01:03 This air bubble prevents drowning.
01:05 However, their study wasn't just looking at water striders.
01:08 It was also attempting to better understand the movements of microplastics around our
01:12 planet's waters.
01:14 With the study concluding that water striders and plastic particles act very similarly in
01:18 heavy rainfall, submerging them for a time and increasing their likelihood of remaining
01:23 in a water source.
01:25 [music]