Abstract
Mechanisms responsible for population stability in relation to resource availability were studied in an introduced herbivorous lady beetle,Epilachna niponica. The introduced population was relatively constant over a seven-year study period. Egg density was related to the variation in host-plant abundance in different years, and was highly stabilized during the period from reproductive adult to egg stage. Two density-dependent processes were identified in the reproductive season: (1) density-dependent reduction in fecundity and (2) density-dependent increase in female mortality and/or emigration, all of which operated early in the season. As a result, temporal variability in cumulative egg density was greatly reduced by mid-May, by which time approximately40% of total eggs were laid. A field cage experiment demonstrated that egg-laying of individual females was largely limited by resource availability even at low levels of leaf herbivory. Since movement activity of ovipositing females increased in a density-dependent manner, inter-plant movement is more likely to cause density-dependent reduction in fecundity and female loss, due to enhanced energy expendiditure. The introduced population was less stable than the source population, probably because of decreased inter-plant movement of females and the unlikelihood of egg resorption, both of which contribute significantly to the temporal stability ofE. niponica population densities.
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Ohgushi, T., Sawada, H. Population stability in relation to resource availability in an introduced population of an herbivorous lady beetle. Res Popul Ecol 39, 37–45 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02765248
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02765248