Modelling collective foraging in endemic bark beetle populations

Marceau Louis, Etienne Toffin, Jean-Claude Gregoire and Jean-Louis Deneubourg

Ecological Modelling, 2016, vol. 337, issue C, 188-199

Abstract: Tree-killing bark beetles are widely studied at epidemic population densities because of their significant impacts on forests. At endemic levels, these species are restricted to poorly defended resources, such as wind-felled, lightning-struck, or suppressed trees. It is poorly understood how these scattered and unpredictable resources are discovered and exploited. In this prospect, the collective foraging shown by most bark beetles, in the form of independent searching by individual beetles combined with mutual attention to each other’s chemical signals, represents an efficient strategy to increase the probability to discover the resources.

Keywords: Forest pests; Collective behaviour; Population dynamics; Thresholds (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:337:y:2016:i:c:p:188-199

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2016.07.008

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