Skip to main content

Advertisement

Springer Nature Link
Log in

Landscape mosaic induces traveling waves of insect outbreaks

  • Population Ecology
  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The effect of landscape mosaic on recurrent traveling waves in spatial population dynamics was studied via simulation modeling across a theoretical landscape with varying levels of connectivity. Phase angle analysis was used to identify locations of wave epicenters on patchy landscapes. Simulations of a tri-trophic model of the larch budmoth (Zeiraphera diniana) with cyclic population dynamics on landscapes with a single focus of high-density habitat produced traveling waves generally radiating outwardly from single and multiple foci and spreading to isolated habitats. We have proposed two hypotheses for this result: (1) immigration subsidies inflate population growth rates in the high connectivity habitat and, thus, reduce the time from valleys to peaks in population cycles; (2) populations in the high connectivity habitat crash from peaks to valleys faster than in an isolated habitat due to over-compensatory density dependence. While population growth rates in the high connectivity habitat benefitted from immigration subsidies, times from population valleys to peaks were greater in high connectivity habitat due to a greater magnitude of fluctuations. Conversely, the mean time of the crash from population peaks to valleys was shorter in high connectivity habitat, supporting the second hypothesis. Results of this study suggest over-compensatory density dependence as an underlying mechanism for recurrent traveling waves originating in high connectivity habitats aggregated around a single focus.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

Explore related subjects

Discover the latest articles and news from researchers in related subjects, suggested using machine learning.

References

  • Andrén H (1994) Effects of habitat fragmentation on birds and mammals in landscapes with different proportions of suitable habitat: a review. Oikos 71:355–366

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bacles CFE, Lowe AJ, Ennos RA (2004) Genetic effects of chronic habitat fragmentation on tree species: the case of Sorbus aucuparia in a deforested Scottish landscape. Mol Ecol 13:573–584

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Baltensweiler W, Rubli D (1999) Dispersal: an important driving force of the cyclic population dynamics of the larch bud moth, Zeiraperadiniana Gn. For Snow Landscape Res 74:1–153

    Google Scholar 

  • Berryman AA (1987) The theory and classification of outbreaks. In: Barbosa P, Schultz JC (eds) Insect outbreaks. Academic, San Diego, pp 3–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Bjørnstad ON, Peltonen M, Liebhold AM, Baltensweiler W (2002) Waves of larch budmoth outbreaks in the European Alps. Science 298:1020–1023

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bulmer MG (1974) A statistical analysis of the 10-year cycle in Canada. J Anim Ecol 43:701–718

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cappuccino N, Martin M-A (1997) The birch tube-maker Acrobasis betulellain a fragmented habitat: the importance of patch isolation and edges. Oecologia 110:69–76

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davies KF, Margules CR (1998) Effects of habitat fragmentation on carabid beetles: experimental evidence. J Anim Ecol 67:460–471

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Didham RK, Hammond PM, Lawton JH, Eggleton P, Stork NE (1998) Beetle species responses to tropical forest fragmentation. Ecol Monogr 68:295–323

    Google Scholar 

  • Dooley JLJ, Bowers MA (1998) Demographic responses to habitat fragmentation: experimental tests at the landscape and patch scale. Ecology 79:969–980

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferraz G, Russell GJ, Stouffer PC, Bierregaard RO, Pimm SL, Lovejoy TE (2003) Rates of species loss from Amazonian forest fragments. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 100:14069–14073

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fitzgibbon CD (1997) Small mammals in farm woodlands: the effects of habitat, isolation and surrounding land-use patterns. J Appl Ecol 34:530–539

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grenfell BT, Bjørnstad ON, Kappey J (2001) Travelling waves and spatial hierarchies in measles epidemics. Nature 414:716–723

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hames RS, Rosenberg KV, Lowe JD, Dhondt AA (2001) Site reoccupation in fragmented landscapes: testing predictions of metapopulation theory. J Anim Ecol 70:182–190

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hanski I, Ovaskainen O (2000) The metapopulation capacity of a fragmented landscape. Nature 404:755–758

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hansson L (2002) Cycles and travelling waves in rodent dynamics: a comparison. Acta Theriol 47:9–22

    Google Scholar 

  • Hassell MP, Comins HN, May RM (1991) Spatial structure and chaos in insect population dynamics. Nature 353:255–258

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson DM, Bjørnstad ON, Leibhold AM (2004) Landscape geometry and traveling waves in the larch budmoth. Ecol Lett 7:967–974

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kean JM, Barlow ND (2000) Effects of dispersal on local population increase. Ecol Lett 3:479–482

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kendall BE et al. (1999) Why do populations cycle? A synthesis of statistical and mechanistic modeling approaches. Ecology 80:1789–1805

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kinezaki N, Kawasaki K, Takasu F, Shigesada N (2003) Modeling biological invasions into periodically fragmented environments. Theor Popul Biol 64:291–302

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lambin X, Elston DA, Petty SJ, MacKinnon JL (1998) Spatial asynchrony and periodic travelling waves in cyclic populations of field voles. Proc R Soc London Ser B Biol Sci 265:1491–1496

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lecomte J, Boudjemadi K, Sarrazin F, Cally K, Clobert J (2004) Connectivity and homogenisation of population sizes: an experimental approach in Lacerta vivipara. J Anim Ecol 73:179–189

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liebhold A, Kamata N (2000) Are population cycles and spatial synchrony universal characteristics of forest insect populations? Popul Ecol 42:205–209

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liebhold AM, McManus ML (1991) Does larval dispersal cause the expansion of gypsy moth outbreaks. North J Appl For 8:95–98

    Google Scholar 

  • Lovett GM, Christenson LM, Groffman PM, Jones CG, Hart JE, Mitchell MJ (2002) Insect defoliation and nitrogen cycling in forests. Bioscience 52:335–341

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mackinnon JL, Petty SJ, Elston DA, Thomas CJ, Sherratt TN, Lambin X (2001) Scale invariant spatio-temporal patterns of field vole density. J Anim Ecol 70:101–111

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moss R, Elston DA, Watson A (2000) Spatial asynchrony and demographic traveling waves during Red Grouse population cycles. Ecology 81:981–989

    Google Scholar 

  • Myers JH (1993) Population outbreaks in forest Lepidoptera. Am Sci 81:240–251

    Google Scholar 

  • Okubo A (1980) Diffusion and ecological problems: mathematical models. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Ranta E, Kaitala V, Lindström J (1997) Dynamics of Canadian lynx populations in space and time. Ecography 20:454–460

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roland J (1993) Large-scale forest fragmentation increases the duration of tent caterpillar outbreak. Oecologia 93:25–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Roland J, Taylor PD (1997) Insect parasitoid species respond to forest structure at different spatial scales. Nature 386:710–713

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sherratt JA, Lambin X, Sherratt TN (2003) The effects of the size and shape of landscape features on the formation of traveling waves in cyclic populations. Am Nat 162:503–513

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sherratt JA, Lambin X, Thomas CJ, Sherratt TN (2002) Generation of periodic waves by landscape features in cyclic predator-prey systems. Proc R Soc London Ser B Biol Sci 269:327–334

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shigesada N, Kawasaki K, Teramoto E (1986) Traveling periodic-waves in heterogeneous environments. Theor Popul Biol 30:143–160

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith CH (1983) Spatial trends in Canadian snowshoe hare, Lepus americanus, population cycles. Can Field-Nat 97:151–160

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith CH, Davis JM (1981) A spatial analysis of wildlife´s ten-year cycle. J Biogeogr 8:27–35

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas CD, Harrison S (1992) Spatial dynamics of a patchily distributed butterfly species. J Anim Ecol 61:437–446

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turchin P (2003) Complex population dynamics: a theoretical/empirical synthesis. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Wallner WE (1987) Factors affecting insect population dynamics: differences between outbreak and non-outbreak species. Annu Rev Entomol 32:317–340

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Young AG, Merriam HG, Warwick SI (1993) The effects of forest fragmentation on genetic-variation in acer-saccharum marsh (sugar maple) populations. Heredity 71:277–289

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by United States Department of Agriculture National Research Initiative Grant No. 2002-35302-12656.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, P.O. Box 42451, Lafayette, LA, 70504, USA

    Derek M. Johnson

  2. Department of Entomology, Pennsylvania State University, 505 ASI Building, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Ottar N. Bjørnstad

  3. Northeastern Research Station, USDA Forest Service, 180 Canfield St, Morgantown, WV, 26505, USA

    Andrew M. Liebhold

Authors
  1. Derek M. Johnson
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ottar N. Bjørnstad
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Andrew M. Liebhold
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Derek M. Johnson.

Additional information

Communicated by Scott Robinson

Electronic supplementary material

Supplementary material 1

Supplementary material 2

Supplementary material 3

Supplementary material 4

Supplementary material 5

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Johnson, D.M., Bjørnstad, O.N. & Liebhold, A.M. Landscape mosaic induces traveling waves of insect outbreaks. Oecologia 148, 51–60 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-005-0349-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-005-0349-0

Keywords