The effects of food availability and selective control of late instar larvae of Aedes aegypti on preimago population structure, mortality, adult abundance, sex ratios, and size of females were examined. Food availability i an important factor in determining preimago population structure and mortality. At optimal food availability more adults emerged, females were larger and in higher proportions than at suboptimal food availability. The effects of selective control on preimago population structure and post treatment larval mortality differed with food availability. At suboptimal food availability the type of control applied had a significant effect. Simulated pathogen-induced mortality resulted in a shift of the population to late instars and temporarily reduced density dependent mortality. The findings suggest that although both pathogens and predators reduce intraspecific competition by directly killing competitors, pathogens also provide an influx of food. Compensatory mortality may result from a reduction of intraspecific competition caused by biocontrol agents.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.20557 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | Cermark, Paul M. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Natural Resource Sciences.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001643282, proquestno: MQ44141, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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