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Oscillations of tropical insect populations

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Abstract

SAUNDERS AND BAZIN1 have suggested that “only ecosystems with relatively few species can have a sufficiently high linear connectivity to produce oscillations without becoming unstable, which would explain why it is that population oscillations are observed in the Arctic but not in the tropics”. Most numerical studies of insect populations in the tropics have been relatively short but what longer time series there are do not bear out this statement. The more favourable temperature conditions in the tropics can allow breeding to continue throughout the year, and typically 8–10 generations may be completed each year.

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BIGGER, M. Oscillations of tropical insect populations. Nature 259, 207–209 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/259207a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/259207a0

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