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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CONE CROP SIZE AND CONE DAMAGE BY INSECTS IN RED PINE SEED-PRODUCTION AREAS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

William J. Mattson Jr.
Affiliation:
North Central Forest Experiment Station,1Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, St. Paul, Minnesota

Abstract

Annual cone abundance and insect damage to cones are highly variable in red pine seed-production areas. Cone crop size fluctuates almost unpredictably from year to year, but the number of insect-attacked cones tends to increase annually unless limited by cone abundance. Sixty-six per cent of the variation in cone damage can be associated with variations in cone abundance. This information, coupled with the fact that red pine cone insects are almost entirely dependent on red pine cones for food, implies that crop size is highly important in regulating populations of cone insects. Insects will be most devastating in areas where crop size varies little from year to year.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1971

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