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Why a cicada, Mogannia minuta Matsumura, became a pest of sugarcane: an hypothesis based on the theory of ‘escape’
Author(s) -
ITÔ YOSIAKI,
NAGAMINE MASAAKI
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
ecological entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.865
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1365-2311
pISSN - 0307-6946
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2311.1981.tb00614.x
Subject(s) - biology , predation , survivorship curve , fecundity , pest analysis , grassland , ecology , population , outbreak , agronomy , botany , demography , genetics , cancer , virology , sociology
. 1. Life tables were constructed for natural populations of a cicada. Mogannia minuta , during an outbreak in sugarcane fields at Okinawa to determine possible reasons for the outbreak. 2. The highest mortality during the life cycle was during the beginning of the nymphal stage, and was mainly due to predation by ants. 3. The estimated rate of natural increase based on a survivorship—fecundity schedule in sugarcane fields was near unity, but during the increasing period the rate was estimated to be substantially higher than unity. 4. The rate of natural increase in Miscanthus ‐grassland was slightly negative, suggesting that the grassland population was maintained by immigration of adults from sugarcane fields. 5. Escape from predation may be the main cause of the special distribution pattern and the maintenance of extraordinarily high densities for many years.