The light‐brown apple moth, <i>Epiphyas postvittana</i> (Walker): 4. Studies on population dynamics and injuriousness to apples in the Australian Capital Territory

Abstract

Abstract A population study of the light‐brown apple moth (LBAM), Epiphyas postvittana (Walker), was pursued from 1963–64 to 1966–67 in a naturally‐infested, unsprayed apple plantation near Canberra. The investigation covered the period of tree development leading up to and including, the production of the first substantial crop. The life history of LBAM and the occurrence of natural enemies were examined. The species did not produce seasonal series of identifiable generations, but individuals in all development stages tended to co‐exist as cohorts of uncertain generation status. Whereas numbers of LBAM decreased gradually from 1963–64 to 1965–66, they rose again markedly in 1966–67, following the release in the study area of about 3,000 laboratory‐reared moths. From periodic field surveys and complementary experiments, it was inferred that the population dynamics of LBAM in the study area consisted essentially in the production of excessive numbers of immature stages, which were reduced by natural enemies to much smaller cohorts of mature stages, determined by the ability of fruit trees to supply the LBAM's requisite food and shelter. It is argued that this ability, i.e. the carrying capacity for LBAM, decreased as the trees matured, and that the damage of LBAM in the crops of fully‐bearing trees would have been negligible under the conditions prevailing in the study area. The probability of damage to fruits was directly proportional to the numbers of larvae and of fruits present, indicating that, unlike codling moth for instance, LBAM did not seek out fruits for attack, but struck them by chance encounter. The results of this life‐system analysis are discussed in the light of Southwood &amp; Comins’(1976) and Southwood's (1977a, b) generalizations on population dynamics, ecological strategies, and the status of pests. LBAM is believed to display all the characteristic features of an ‘intermediate strategist’ and an ‘intermediate pest’.