Analysis of Food Intake, Utilization, and Growth in Phytophagous Insects-A Computer Program1

Abstract

The analysis of food intake, food utilization, and animal growth is of interest to researchers in various fields. Basic concepts for this analysis were developed by nutritionists concerned with quality of the food eaten by the animal and the food's effect on the animal's growth and development. Ecologists used these concepts in support of studies on the flow of energy in communities (Mukerji and Guppy 1970; Latheef and Harcourt 1972). Specialists in pest management may use the measurement of food intake and growth rates in developing simulated models for economic thresholds. Implications of food utilization in the total process of an insect's host-plant selection behavior is an additional application of this analysis. An important consequence of these latter studies is an understanding of the mode of action of plant resistance to insect attack at both the behavioral and nutritional levels (Kogan 1973). Evidently a less applied, although just as valuable, outcome of these studies is an understanding of the evolution of insect/plant relationships.