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Fluctuations in resource availability and insect populations

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Summary

Data are presented which show that fluctuations in the numbers of many insects are determined primarily by fluctuations in the carrying capacity of their habitats. Few studies exist, however, in which the resources available to insect populations have been quantified; due possibly to a too ready acceptance by many biologists of the concept of population equilibria and a concomitant dismissal of the likelihood of resource limitation.

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Dempster, J.P., Pollard, E. Fluctuations in resource availability and insect populations. Oecologia 50, 412–416 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00344984

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