The gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar, is native to most temperate hardwood forests in Europe and Asia. This species was introduced to N. America in the late 1800’s and has been gradually expanding its range. Through much of its native and alien range, gypsy moth populations exhibit strong oscillations and outbreak populations may cause extensive forest defoliation. We analyzed historical time series of gypsy moth defoliation recorded from various locations in N. America, Europe and Asia. Results indicate considerable similarity in patterns of dynamics; in most regions there was statistical evidence of periodicity with ca. 8-12 years between outbreaks. We also examined these data to evaluate the extent of spatial synchrony among populations. While there was considerable intra-continental synchrony in population dynamics, there was no evidence for any synchrony among continents. These results can be most parsimoniously explained by a “Moran effect” in which spatial synchrony in weather synchronizes populations within continents.
Species 1: Lepidoptera Lymantriidae Lymantria dispar (gypsy moth)
Keywords: synchrony, periodicity
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