Insects are ectothermic meaning they don’t generate their own body heat, and rely on external sources to regulate their body temperature. Freezing temperatures are life threatening to many insects, so how do they survive winter?
One July morning I went down to my vegetable garden to see how the plants had survived the deep freeze (-3°C) of the night before. I wasn’t surprised to find my brassicas were covered in ice crystals, but I didn’t expect to find a cabbage white butterfly (Pieris rapae) larva also encrusted in ice. I decided to keep an eye on it, so after the day warmed up a bit I revisited the garden to find the caterpillar happily munching on the plant. How did it do it?
