6.9. Age-grading


Identification of the growth stages or ages of insects in a population is important in ecological or applied entomology. Information on the proportion of a population in different developmental stages and the proportion of the adult population at reproductive maturity can be used to construct time-specific life-tables or budgets to determine factors that cause and regulate fluctuations in population size and dispersal rate, and to monitor fecundity and mortality factors in the population. Such data are integral to predictions of pest outbreaks as a result of climate and to the construction of models of population response to the introduction of a control program.

Many different techniques have been proposed for estimating either the growth stage or the age of insects. Some provide an estimate of chronological (calendar) age within a stadium, whereas most estimate either instar number or relative age within a stadium, in which case the term age-grading is used in place of age determination.

Chapter 6