This chapter presents a comparative

This chapter presents a comparative study for insects and plants to examine resource allocation in variable environments. Insects and plants rely on networked gas exchange systems. Insects have a tracheolar system that eliminates any need to carry gases in the hemolymph, while plants have a similar stomatal system. Both groups primarily thermoregulate behaviorally through orientation to sunlight, although both contain species capable of more active thermogenesis. Both insects and plants can include resource uptake by the female as part of the reproductive process. Mating in several orders of insects includes donations of nutrients from the male to the female. Both groups can manufacture defensive compounds, so that allocation can play an active role in predator escape. This chapter begins with discussing basic concepts related to resource allocation within an individual. The chapter then elaborates age-specific allocation responses to variable environments. Using examples from plants and butterflies, it is shown that the ability to alter body architecture can allow optimization of allocation to meet age-specific resource demands and that the resource pools need not be static, but may fluctuate due to allocation to foraging in response to demand for resource expenditure.