Rearing Temperature
Definition
The constant or mean temperature at which a larval cohort was held in the laboratory experiment that generated the developmental dataset. The isomegalen and isomorphen diagrams are only strictly valid at temperatures used in the original rearing trials; values between data points are interpolated.
- Definition scope
- Constant or mean lab temperature
- Source
- Original developmental research trial
- Used with
- Isomegalen and isomorphen diagrams
- Limitation
- Interpolation needed between data points
Common questions
Why can't an entomologist just apply a diagram built at one rearing temperature to a scene at a different temperature?+
Insect development rate is nonlinear with temperature, so a diagram generated under one set of rearing conditions does not automatically transfer to a scene temperature outside those conditions without interpolation or a temperature-correction model, and doing so without adjustment risks a biased age estimate.
Does using scene-recorded ambient temperature substitute for the original rearing temperature data?+
No, they answer different questions. Scene temperature data feeds a temperature history model for the postmortem interval, while rearing temperature describes the laboratory conditions under which the reference growth-rate dataset was originally produced.
Related terms
- Isomegalen Diagram
- A contour plot with temperature on the y-axis and age on the x-axis, where each contour line connects all (temperature, age) combinations...
- Isomorphen Diagram
- A contour plot of the same axes where each contour connects all (temperature, age) combinations that produce the same morphological developmental stage...
- Larval Instar
- One of three larval stages (L1, L2, L3) separated by moults. Each instar has distinctive mouth-hook and posterior spiracle morphology that allows...
- Larval Length (Body Length)
- The maximum extended length of a blow fly larva, measured from the anterior tip to the posterior end in freshly killed or...
- Thermal Constant (K)
- The total ADD or ADH required to complete a developmental phase from egg to a defined endpoint. Different from the isomegalen approach...