Quantifying dispersal of southern pine beetles with mark-recapture experiments and a diffusion model

Abstract

Pest management decisions should take into consideration quantitative information on dispersal of insect pests, but such information is often lacking.The goal of this study was to measure intraforest dispersal in the southern pine beetle (SPB).We developed an analytical formula for interpreting data from mark-recapture studies of insect dispersal.The proposed methodology was then applied to a mark-recapture study of SPB dispersal.Quantitative results on SPB intraforest dispersal were summarized by calculating radii of circles enclosing a given proportion of SPB dispersal distances.For example, we estimated that one half of the the released beetles dispersed > 0.69 km.This result has important implications for evaluating the area-wide consequences of current or novel control tactics that rely on disruption SPB movements, e.g., cut-and-leave and treatments with anti-congregation pheromone.

Citation

Turchin, P.; Thoeny, W.T. 1993. Quantifying dispersal of southern pine beetles with mark-recapture experiments and a diffusion model. Ecological Applications 3: 187-198