Study
Eco-physiological phases of insect diapause
Koštál, Vladimír
Journal of Insect Physiology, 2006
Proposes a standard terminology dividing diapause into induction, preparation, initiation, maintenance, termination and post-diapause quiescence, and maps the confused existing vocabulary onto it.
- Studied in
- Insecta
- Sample size
- conceptual review
Much apparent disagreement in the diapause literature comes from authors using the same word for different phases; separating the phases resolves conflicting reports about what ends diapause.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
Diapause should be described phase by phase, because the animal’s responsiveness to temperature and to cues differs completely between phases.
How NatureHQ reads it
Used here to explain why an insect can appear to be “woken early” in one report and be unresponsive in another: the two are in different phases. It is also a good example for readers of a real scientific disagreement that turned out to be about words.
- A terminological proposal; adoption is partial, so the older vocabulary is still encountered.
- The phases are easier to identify retrospectively than in a living animal.
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
One study can inform several subjects. Here is everywhere this one is cited.
Diapause
Diapause is a prediction, not a reaction. It is triggered by daylength before conditions worsen — sometimes a generation ahead — and an insect in diapause moved somewhere warm and well-fed simply stays in diapause.
Diapause
A motionless insect in the cold is usually not in diapause. Quiescence — a direct response to bad conditions that reverses as soon as they improve — is commoner, and looks identical from outside.
Published by: Elsevier journalsPublished in an Elsevier journal.
doi.org/10.1016/j.jinsphys.2005.09.008
Checked against Crossref on 2026-09-28, and they agree on the title, the authors and the year.
NatureHQ summarises research in its own words and does not reproduce published text. Reviewed 2026-09-03.