Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T08:17:26.115Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Food-Plant Distribution and Density and Larval Dispersal as Factors Affecting Insect Populations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

V. G. Dethier
V. G. Dethier
Affiliation:
Zoological Laboratory, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 4, Pennsylvania
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

It is generally agreed that insects whose larvae feed on plants do not increase to the larval food limit except in sporadic and unusual cases. In the few detailed studies which have been made, as, for example, Varley's (1947) study of the knapweed gallfly, the evidence suggests that the insects are held in check by parasites and predators. Andrewartha and Birch (1954) are of the opinion that shortage of food is probably the least important factor in limiting the numbers of animals in a natural population. On the other hand, they have pointed out (p. 489) that while it is unusual for an extensive population to consume all or most of the stock of food in its area, it does not follow that the amount of food is rarely of major importance in determining the numbers of a natural population. Several examples (p. 492) were given in which shortage of food was chiefly responsible for failure of population increase even though the absolute supply seemed adequate. In these cases local supplies were exhausted and the chance of finding fresh supplies depended upon the distribution and abundance of food and the powers of dispersal of the animals. In other words, the food was inaccessible relative to the animals' capacities for dispersal and searching.

Type
Articles
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 91 , Issue 9 , September 1959 , pp. 581 - 596
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1959

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andrewartha, H. G., and Birch, L. C.. 1954. The distribution and abundance of animals. xv + 782, Univ. of Chicago, Ill.Google Scholar
Benjamin, D. M. 1955. The biology and ecology of the red-headed pine sawfly. U.S. Dept. Agri. Tech. Bull. 1118: 1–57.Google Scholar
Clough, A. L. 1953. Head of the Bay. 52 pp. Shoreacre Press. Woodstock, Vt.Google Scholar
Day, C. A. 1954. A history of Maine agriculture 1604–1860. Univ. Me. Bull. 56(II): ix + 318.Google Scholar
Dethier, V. G. 1937. Gustation and olfaction in lepidopterous larvae. Biol. Bull. 72: 7–23.Google Scholar
Dethier, V. G. 1943. The dioptric apparatus of lateral ocelli. II. Visual capacities of the ocellus. J. Cell. Comp. Physiol. 22: 115–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dethier, V. G. 1959. Egg-laying habits of Lepidoptera in relation to available food. Canad. Ent. (in press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Götz, B. 1936. Beiträge zur Analyse des Verhaltens von Schmetterlingsraupen beim Aufsuchen des Futters und des Verpuppungsplatzes. Zeit. Vergl. Physiol. 23: 429–503.Google Scholar
Hundertmark, A. 1937. Das Formenunterscheidungsvermögen der Eiraupen der Nonne (Lymantria monacha L.). Zeit. Vergl. Physiol. 24: 563–582.Google Scholar
Scudder, S. H. 1889. The butterflies of the eastern United States and Canada. Vol. 1, pp. 674–683. Cambridge, Mass.Google Scholar
Sullivan, C. R., and Wellington, W. G.. 1953. The light reactions of larvae of the tent caterpillars Malacosoma disstria Hbn., M. americanum (Fab.) and M. pluviale (Dyar). (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae). Canad. Ent. 85: 297–310.Google Scholar
Varley, G. C. 1947. The natural control of population balance in the knapweed gallfly (Urophora jaceana). J. Anim. Ecol. 16: 139–187.Google Scholar
Wellington, W. G. 1955. Solar heat and plane polarized light versus the light compass reaction in the orientation of insects on the ground. Ann. Ent. Soc. Amer. 48: 67–76.Google Scholar
Wellington, W. G., Sullivan, C. R., and Green, G. W.. 1951. Polarized light and body temperature level as orientation factors in the light reactions of some hymenopterous and lepidopterous larvae. Canad. J. Zool. 29: 339–351.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wellington, W. G., Sullivan, C. R., and Henson, W. R.. 1954. The light reactions of larvae of the spotless fall webworm, Hyphantria textor Harr. (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae). Canad. Ent. 86: 529–542.Google Scholar