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Degrees of heterogeneity and the survival of an insect population

  • Published:
Researches on Population Ecology

Summary

The results of simulation experiments with a stochastic model incorporating internal and external sources of heterogeneity suggest that the western tent caterpillar is a risk spreader of a type discussed byDen Boer (1968). By maintaining physiological plasticity in its population,M.c. pluviale can survive periods of bad weather and then expand rapidly in an improved climate. Intrinsic variability in the moths’ dispersal capacity also ensures that some will continue to contribute to populations in the climatic refuges where the species persists during unfavorable periods, while others can quickly colonize marginal areas as soon as favorable conditions return. This northern population of the western tent caterpillar seems distinctly less well adapted to a world in which the terrain and the weather are more homogeneous than on the Saanich Peninsula.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Animal Resource Ecology, the University of British Columbia, V6T 1W5, Vancouver, Canada

    W. A. Thompson, P. J. Cameron, W. G. Wellington & I. B. Vertinsky

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  1. W. A. Thompson
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  2. P. J. Cameron
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  3. W. G. Wellington
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  4. I. B. Vertinsky
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Additional information

As this series of papers is jointly produced by our whole group, the order of authorship on each is decided by chance, not protocol.

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Thompson, W.A., Cameron, P.J., Wellington, W.G. et al. Degrees of heterogeneity and the survival of an insect population. Res Popul Ecol 18, 1–13 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02754078

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