QUANTITATIVE DYNAMICS OF LARCH CATERPILLAR (DENDRALIMUS SUPERANS [BULLER]) AND THE BIOLOGICAL CONTROL

METHoDSoFlNVESTIGATIONIna24yearso1dlarchp1antation,asampleplotwassetup,inwhichloosam-pletreeswereselected.ThenumberoflarchcaterpillarsoneachsampletreewerecountedperiodicaI1y,whilethesameinves-tigationswerea1sodoneinlarchplanta-tionswithsameecologica1conditionssur-roundingthesamplep1ot.Asacontrol,ac-cordingtothedeve1opmentalprogressandlivinghabitsoflarchcaterpiIIar,thewholegenerationwasdividedintosevendevel0pmentaIstages:egg,firstinstar,thirdinstar(beforeoverwintering),fourthinstar(aft…

QUANTITATIVE DYNAMICS OF LARCH CATERPILLAR (DENDRALIMUS SUPERANS [BULLER]) AND THE BIOLOGICAL CONTROL

The relationship between pest population and other factors is rather complex within the forest ecosystem. A number of environmental factors, such as extreme climatic conditions,infection of natural enemies, may cause the death of pest insects directly. The effect of these factors reflects basically the situation and cause of death of insects at different stages of entire process of growth and development, so that they may be cmployed as the basic records of the quantitative dynamic of the population, and are of important value to the study of population quantitative dynamics of pests. Since Morris and Miller (1954) applied the life table technique to study natural population of insects, the insect lif e table technique has becoming an important means for the study of quantitative dynamics of pest populations. In foreign countries, the study of the life table of forest pest began in 50 year's already. Moreovcr. the rcsults of invcstigation were applicd to the productive practice, such as thc sprucc budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana Clemens),winter moth (Opperophtera brumala Linnaeus), while in our country, the quantitative dynamics of many forest pests were not investigated. The larch caterpillar is one of the great pest of larch plantation in China. Every ycar, the outbrcak of this pcst occur in some places, causing large economic loss. Many studies wcre performcd on the biological and chenlical controls, but the investigation on quantitative dynamics of the natural population of larch caterpi1Iar was lacking.Since 1980, we studicd the quantitative dynamics of the natural population of larch caterpillar in Shangzhi County, Heilongiiang Province and worked out lif e tables of two generations.