A polyphagous, tropical insect herbivore shows strong seasonality in age-structure and longevity independent of temperature and host availability.

ABSTRACT: Bactrocera tryoni is a polyphagous fruit fly that is predicated to have continuous breeding in tropical and subtropical Australia as temperature and hosts are not limiting. Nevertheless, in both rainforest and tropical agricultural systems, the fly shows a distinct seasonal phenology pattern with an autumn decline and a spring emergence. Temperature based population models have limited predictive capacity for this species and so the driver(s) for the observed phenology patterns are unknown. Using a demographic approach, we studied the age-structure of B. tryoni populations in subtropical Australia in an agricultural system, with a focus on times of the year when marked changes in population abundance occur. We found that the age-structure of the population varied with season: summer and au

SUBMITTER: Tasnin MS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8169897 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature