RECORD
The Roles of Density, Stage, and Patchiness in the Transmission of an Insect Virus
- Title:
- The Roles of Density, Stage, and Patchiness in the Transmission of an Insect Virus
- Creator:
- Dwyer, Greg
- Date Created:
- 1991-04-01
- Description:
- Although the importance of insect viruses in the population dynamics of their hosts is widely acknowledged, ecologists are still relatively ignorant of the factors determining the rate of transmission of insect viruses in the field. I performed a series of field experiments in which I investigated the transmission dynamics of the nuclear poly— hedrosis virus (NPV) of Douglas—fir tussock moth, Orgyia pseudotsugata (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae), in northern Idaho, USA. In these experiments, I reared healthy and infected healthy larvae that became infected as a measure of transmission. I explored the influences of density, stage structure, and spatial structure on transmission by manipulating the density and stage distribution of healthy and infected hosts, and the spatial distribution of infected hosts. The experiments indicate that transmission is strongly affected by the densities of both healthy and infected hosts, but the effect depends on the instar of each. Late instars are both more infectious and more likely to become infected than are early instars, so that the NPV is more likely to spread in populations of late—instar tussock moth larvae. I also found that transmission is affected by the spatial distribution of infected hosts, and this effect also depends on the instar of healthy hosts. That is, transmission to healthy early instars decreases with increasing patchiness of infected hosts, but transmission to healthy late instars is essentially unaffected by patchiness. I discuss how these results can be in— terpreted in terms of behavioral differences among instars, and relate the results to the mathematical theory of disease and the use of viruses in biological pest control.
- Document Type:
- Research Article
- Subjects:
- UIEF pest control population dynamics insect viruses nuclear polyhedrosis virus tussock moth forest entomology
- Location:
- UIEF
- Latitude:
- 46.869607
- Longitude:
- -116.733856
- Publisher:
- Ecological Society of America
- Department:
- Forest, Rangeland, and Fire Sciences
- Type:
- Text
Source
- Preferred Citation:
- "The Roles of Density, Stage, and Patchiness in the Transmission of an Insect Virus ", UIEF Research Exchange, University of Idaho Library Digital Collections, https://www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/uief/items/uief_0269.html
Rights
- Rights:
- In copyright, educational use permitted.
- Standardized Rights:
- http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/