Recent models have identified evolutionary explanations for sensitive periods, when individuals are more responsive to experiences at certain stages of development, based on benefits and costs of attending to environmental cues. Empirical tests of these models face challenges, requiring complex, long-term experiments, and detailed understanding of physiology and ecology. Insect systems offer the opportunity to overcome these challenges, given their tractability, diversity and well-studied mechanisms. These studies shed light not only on fundamental biology, but have societal implications given the roles insects play in pollinating or decimating food crops and in spreading parasites. Understanding the role of sensitive periods can help to protect beneficial insect populations while controlling pests and vectors of disease.

最近的模型基于关注环境提示的收益和成本，确定了敏感期的进化解释，即个人对某些发展阶段的经验反应更快。这些模型的经验测试面临挑战，需要进行复杂的长期实验，并对生理学和生态学有详细的了解。鉴于其易处理性，多样性和经过充分研究的机制，昆虫系统提供了克服这些挑战的机会。这些研究不仅阐明了基础生物学，而且还具有社会意义，因为昆虫在授粉或毁灭粮食作物以及传播寄生虫中发挥了作用。了解敏感时期的作用有助于保护有益的昆虫种群，同时控制病虫害和病媒。