When the air gets dry, cockroaches cuddle: Binghamton University study reveals survival strategy

(Press-News.org) When conditions get too dry, Madagascar hissing cockroaches like to "cuddle". Under certain conditions, the large insects gather in groups, with many participants in physical contact with one another. According to recent research from Binghamton University’s Biological Sciences program, this strategy may prevent the cockroaches from drying out.

The new study, “Plastic Behavioral Responses to Ambient Relative Humidity Influence Aggregation in a Large Gregarious Insect”, recently appeared in the journal Ethology, and was co-authored by Binghamton University Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Assistant Professor and senior author Lindsey Swierk, as well as Alison Kryger, Kayla Huang, Kayhan Tabrizifard and Justin Yang, who were all students in Swierk's fall Animal Behavior 2024 undergraduate course.

“The main takeaway from our study is that Madagascar hissing cockroaches actively adjust their social behavior based on humidity, showing that even large adult insects rely on behavioral plasticity to cope with environmental stressors,” explained Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Lindsey Swierk. “The students’ research projects are generally outstanding — and many of these student groups are motivated to submit their research for publication following the end of the course."

This is the fourth student group from Swierk’s Animal Behavior class to have their work published in a peer-reviewed journal since 2022; another paper from a different group is currently undergoing peer review. The paper’s fifth author, Alexandra Martin, PhD ’25, is a recent graduate of Swierk’s lab and offered guidance to the undergraduates on experimental design and data interpretation.

Adjusting to climate change

Madagascar hissing cockroaches are around 2 to 3 inches long and widely used in educational settings. Surprisingly, many aspects of their natural history aren’t well understood, Swierk said.

In their native Madagascar, these insects form large social groups. The African island experiences both a wet season and a dry season, and Swierk’s Animal Behavior students found that the roaches’ tendency to aggregate is connected with those swings in humidity.

When the humidity is low, cockroaches in the experiment were significantly more likely to gather into groups, with more of them in physical contact with one another. Aggregation was less common under high humidity, and groups that did form included fewer individuals, the researchers discovered.

“In general, insects can lose water pretty quickly because of their high surface area to volume ratios, and so humidity really affects their abilities to retain moisture,” Swierk explained. “Our research shows that even larger adult insects, that may in theory be more resistant to low humidity than smaller or larval insects, still use aggregation as a flexible behavioral adaptation to reduce the risk of water loss.”

When the air is dry, insects lose water through their cuticle and through breathing. Physiological adaptations can help them fend off desiccation, including a layer of hydrocarbons on their exoskeletons and changes in metabolic rates. Aggregation is another such strategy, which has been previously observed in small insects and insect larvae.

By grouping together, the cockroaches create a type of micro-climate that increases humidity in their immediate area. But this strategy comes with costs; aggregation could increase social competition or make the insects easier prey for other animals.

Hissing cockroaches, who dwell on the forest floor, play an important role in the environment as decomposers and prey for other animals. Changes in their behavior could end up influencing the larger ecosystem, which is already experiencing the impact of climate change; Madagascar’s dry seasons are becoming longer and more severe, with the humidity in some regions dropping to very low levels, Swierk said.

“Because we now know that these cockroaches adjust their aggregation behavior in response to humidity, more frequent or extreme dry periods could push them to aggregate more often to conserve water, which could potentially affect their foraging, reproduction, or broader ecological roles as decomposers,” she said.

Most likely, humidity is only one of many factors that influence aggregation among Madagascar cockroaches. Whether the hissing cockroach findings apply more widely to other large insect species remains to be seen.

“Our study suggests that such aggregation behavior under low humidity levels could more generally apply to larger insects, as well as small or larval insects, but of course this will also depend on species’ natural history and social behaviors,” Swierk said.

About Binghamton University

Binghamton University, State University of New York, is the #1 public university in New York and a top-100 institution nationally. Founded in 1946, Binghamton combines a liberal arts foundation with professional and graduate programs, offering more than 130 academic undergraduate majors, minors, certificates, concentrations, emphases, tracks and specializations, plus more than 90 master's, 40 doctoral and 50 graduate certificate programs. The University is home to nearly 18,000 students and more than 150,000 alumni worldwide. Binghamton's commitment to academic excellence, innovative research, and student success has earned it recognition as a Public Ivy and one of the best values in American higher education.

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