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Seasonality of insect abundance in an Australian upland tropical rainforest
Author(s) -
FRITH CLIFFORD B.,
FRITH DAWN W.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
australian journal of ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1442-9993
pISSN - 0307-692X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1442-9993.1985.tb00886.x
Subject(s) - rainforest , dry season , abundance (ecology) , seasonality , wet season , tropics , tropical rainforest , biology , biomass (ecology) , ecology , period (music) , agronomy , physics , acoustics
Monthly light and Malaise trap catches, taken over 31 months, were used to examine seasonal and annual changes in the abundance of predominant orders of upland tropical rainforest insects. Insect numbers and biomass increased during the late dry season, reached a peak during the wetter months, and declined during the early dry period. Fluctuations in insect abundance appeared to relate to (1) climatic factors such as length and severity of the dry season, or amount and period of rainfall; and (2) food availability such as an increase in the production of new leaves, or flowering and fruiting periodicity.