Experimental and Theoretical Analysis of the Regulation of Redscale by the Parasitoid Aphytis

研究人员建议继续对柑橘害虫红蚧和Aphytis之间的相互作用进行实验和理论研究，Aphytis是一种昆虫寄生虫，已在世界许多地区引入并保持红蚧在经济上令人满意的控制。红蚧的种群丰度不仅远低于它是一种害虫的水平，而且种群也非常稳定。拟议研究的中心假设是，寄生虫通过Aphytis个体在遇到介壳虫时表现出的灵活反应来实现这些目的。这些个体的反应，反过来，导致规模和寄生虫种群的变化，从而在未来的死亡率由寄生虫强加。这项研究的目的是：分析决定这些决定的因素，通过将描述纳入数学模型来确定其对人口动态的影响，并通过实地实验来测试模型是否正确地描述了潜在的过程。这项研究应该产生罕见的洞察力的过程中，外地人口的调节，特别是到个人的作用寄生虫行为在实现这一目标。它将添加到一个一般理论的寄生虫主机和捕食者-猎物动态系统中的动态或多或少连续全年，有重叠的世代。最特别的是，它代表了为数不多的尝试，以测试详细的假设，在该领域的一个特定系统的人口动态的机制。这项研究还应该提供见解，这将有助于解决未来的害虫问题。

The investigators propose to continue an experimental and theoretical study of the interaction between redscale, an insect pest of citrus, and Aphytis, an insect parasite that has been introduced and keeps redscale under economically satisfactory control in many areas in the world. The population abundance of redscale is not only kept far below the levels at which it is a pest, the populations are also remarkably stable. The central hypothesis of the proposed research is that the parasite achieves these ends through the flexible responses exhibited by Aphytis individuals as they encounter scale insects. These individual responses, in turn, lead to changes in the scale and parasite populations, and hence in the future death rate imposed by the parasite. This study is aimed at: analyzing the factors that determine these decisions, determining their consequences for population dynamics by incorporating the description into mathematical models, and testing by field experiment whether the models in fact have correctly described the underlying processes. %%% This research should produce rarely-obtained insight into the processes by which field populations are regulated, and especially into the role of individual parasite behavior in achieving this end. It will add to a general theory of parasite-host and predator-prey dynamics for systems in which the dynamics are more or less continuous throughout the year and there are overlapping generations. Most particularly, it represents one of the few attempts to test detailed hypotheses about the mechanisms underlying population dynamics of a particular system in the field. The research should also provide insight that will be useful in solving insect pest problems in the future.