Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-cfpbc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T00:59:41.864Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

How moths pass the dry season in a Costa Rican dry forest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2011

D. H. Janzen
D. H. Janzen
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA
Get access

Abstract

The dry and largely deciduous forests in Santa Rosa National Park in northwestern lowland Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica, Central America, have a moth fauna of about 2800 species. These moths pass the six month rain-free dry season, and some other portions of the year, by: (a) remaining dormant in the egg stage (1 species only), (b) remaining dormant in the pupal or prepupal stage (many species), (c) undergoing larval development (a few species of particular life forms) (d) remaining in the Park as a potentially active but non-reproductive adult (many species), and (e) migrating out of the Park after one to two generations and then returning at the beginning of the following rainy season (a few species of particular life forms). The migrating moths constitute a strong link between the dry forest and the rainforests to the east of the dry forest. The seasonal patterns of dormancy of immatures, reproductively dormant adults, and migration are not well correlated with the simple presence or absence of foliage on host plants, or with climate changes (except that the temperature drop that occurs at the beginning of the rainy season appears to be a widely used cue for pupal eclosion). The pattern of habitat use by leaf-eating caterpillars is probably determined more by the seasonal abundance of carnivores (parasitoids and predators) than by the mere presence of leaves; this process is very strongly evident in the failure of many moths to have more than one generation per year, even when their host plants are leafy throughout the six month rainy season or are even evergreen.

Résumé

Les forêts arides à feuilles caduques du parc national de Santa Rosa dans le nord-ouest de la province de Guanacaste, Costa Rica, Amerique centrale, ont une faune de mites d'environ 2800 espèces. Ces mites passent les six mois de la saison sans pluie et une autre partie de l'année en: (a) restant dormant d'espèces, (c) se développant en larves (peu d'espèces), (d) restant dans le parc sous forme d'adultes ayant une activité potentielle mais non reproductive, et (e) migrant hors du parc après une ou deux générations puis retournant lors de la prochaine saison des pluies, (peu d'espèces). La migration des mites constitue un retournant lors de la prochaine saison des pluies, (peu d'espèces). La migration des mites constitue un maillon important liant les forêts arides et les forêts humides. Les modèles saisonniers (les immatures dormants, adultes dormants qui peuvent se reproiduire) et la migration ne correspondent pas bien avec la présence ou l'absence des feuilles sur les plantes hôtes ou avec les changements du climat. (A l'exception de l'éclosion des pupes qui elle semble correspondre à la chute de température au commencement de la saison des pluies.) Le mode de vie des chenilles qui mangent les feuilles est propablement limité par l'abondance des carnivores (parasitoids et prédateurs) et non par l'abondance des feuilles. Cette régulation est évidente pour beaucoup de mites qui ont plus d'une génération par année, même si les plantes hôtes portent des feuilles pendant les six mois de pluie ou même si les arbres ont des feuilles persistantes.

Keywords

Mothsdry seasonseasonalityCosta RicaNeotropicsmigrationdormancypupaerainforestdry forestSanta Rosa National Park
Type
Symposium III: Life-History Traits in Tropical Insects
Information
International Journal of Tropical Insect Science , Volume 8 , Issue 4-5-6: Recent Advances in Research on Tropical Entomology , December 1987 , pp. 489 - 500
Copyright
Copyright © ICIPE 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Boza, M. A. and Mendoza, R. (1981) The National Parks of Costa Rica. INCAFO, S.A., Madrid, Spain.Google Scholar
Cantello, W. W. (1974) Diapause in a tropical strain of the tobacco hornworm. Ann. Ent. Soc. Am. 67, 828–830.Google Scholar
Davis, D. R., Clayton, D. H., Janzen, D. H. and Brooke, A. P. (1986) Neotropical Tineidae, II: biological notes and descriptions of two new moths phoretic on spiny pocket mice in Costa Rica (Lepidoptera: Tineidae). Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash. 88, 98–109.Google Scholar
Denlinger, D. L. (1974) Diapause potential in tropical flesh flies. Nature 252, 223–224.Google Scholar
Denlinger, D. L. (1978) The developmental response of flesh flies (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) to tropical seasons. Oecologia 35, 105–107.Google Scholar
Denlinger, D. L. (1979) Pupal diapause in tropical flesh flies: environmental and endocrine regulation, metabolic rate and genetic selection. Biol. Bull. 156, 31–46.Google Scholar
Denlinger, D. L. (1980) Seasonal and annual variation of insect abundance in the Nairobi National Park, Kenya. Biotropica 12, 100–106.Google Scholar
Denlinger, D. L. (1986) Dormancy in tropical insects. A. Rev. Ent. 31, 239–264.Google Scholar
Denlinger, D. L. and Shukla, M. (1984) Increased length and variability of the life cycle in tropical flesh flies (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) that lack pupal diapause. Ann. Ent. Soc. Am. 77, 46–49.Google Scholar
DeVries, P. J. (1983) Checklist of butterflies. In Costa Rican Natural History (Edited by Janzen, D. H.), University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 654–678.Google Scholar
Dingle, H. and Baldwin, J. D. (1983) Geographic variation in life histories: a comparison of tropical and temperate milkweed bugs (Oncopeltus). In Diapause and Life Cycle Strategies in Insects. (Edited by Brown, V. K. and Hodek, I.), pp. 143–165. W. Junk Dr., The Hague.Google Scholar
Jacquemard, P. (1976) Relations entre la diapause de Diparopsis watersi (Roths.) (Lep. Noct.) et la diapause de son parasite Eucarcelia sp. [? evolans (Wied.)] [Dipt. Tachin.] dans le nord du Cameroun. Cot. Fib. Trop. 31, 313–321.Google Scholar
Janzen, D. H. (1967) Synchronization of sexual reproduction of trees with the dry season in Central America. Evolution 21, 620–637.Google Scholar
Janzen, D. H. (1973) Sweep samples of tropical foliage insects: effects of seasons, vegetation types, elevation, time of day, and insularity. Ecology 54, 687–708.Google Scholar
Janzen, D. H. (1976) Sweep samples of tropical deciduous forest foliage-inhabiting insects: seasonal changes and inter-field differences in adult bugs and beetles. Revista de Biol. Trop. 24, 149–161.Google Scholar
Janzen, D. H. (1979) Natural history of Phelypera distigma (Boheman), Curculionidae, a Costa Rican defoliator of Guazuma ulmifolia Lam. (Sterculiaceae). Brenesia 16, 213–219.Google Scholar
Janzen, D. H. (1982) Guia para la identificación de mariposas nocturnas de la familia Saturniidae del Parque Nacional Santa Rosa, Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Brenesia 19/20, 255–299.Google Scholar
Janzen, D. H., (1983a) Larval biology of Ectomyelois muriscis (Pyralidae: Phycitinae), a Costa Rican fruit parasite of Hymenaea courbaril (Leguminosae: Caesalpinioideae). Brenesia 21, 387–393.Google Scholar
Janzen, D. H. (1983b) Seasonal change in abundance of large nocturnal dung beetles (Scarabaeidae) in a Costa Rican deciduous forest and adjacent horse pasture. Oikos 41, 274–283.Google Scholar
Janzen, D. H. (1984a) Two ways to be a big tropical moth: Santa Rosa saturniids and sphingids. Oxford Surv. Evol. Biol. 1, 85–140.Google Scholar
Janzen, D. H. (1984b) Natural history of Hylesia lineata (Saturniidae: Hemileucinae) in Santa Rosa National Park, Costa Rica. J. Kans. ent. Soc. 57, 490–514.Google Scholar
Janzen, D. H. (1984c) Weather-related color polymorphism of Rothschildia lebeau (Saturniidae). Bull. ent. soc. Am. 30, 16–20.Google Scholar
Janzen, D. H. (1985a) A host plant is more than its chemistry. Illinois Nat. Hist. Surv. Bull. 33, 141–174.Google Scholar
Janzen, D. H. (1985b) On ecological fitting. Oikos 45, 308–310.Google Scholar
Janzen, D. H. (1986a) Guanacaste National Park: tropical ecological and cultural restoration. Editorial Universidad Estatal a Distancia, San Jose, Costa Rica.Google Scholar
Janzen, D. H. (1986b) The future of tropical biology. A. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 17, 305–324.Google Scholar
Janzen, D. H. (1987a) Ecological characterization of a Costa Rican dry forest caterpillar fauna. Biotropica (in press).Google Scholar
Janzen, D. H. (1987b) Biogeography of an unexceptional place: what determines the saturniid and sphingid moth fauna of Santa Rosa National Park, Costa Rica, and what does it mean to conservation biology. Brenesia (in press).Google Scholar
Janzen, D. H. and Liesner, R. (1980) Annotated check-list of plants of lowland Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica, exclusive of grasses and non-vascular cryptogams. Brenesia 18, 15–90.Google Scholar
Janzen, D. H. and Waterman, P. G. (1984) A seasonal census of phenolics, fibre and alkaloids in foliage of forest trees in Costa Rica: some factors influencing their distribution and relation to host selection by Sphingidae and Saturnidae. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 21, 439–454.Google Scholar
Jones, R. E. and Rienks, J. (1987) Seasonality of reproduction by tropical Australian Eurema (Lepidoptera: Pieridae). Biotropica (in press).Google Scholar
Jones, R. E., Rienks, J. and Wilson, L. (1985) Seasonal and environmentally induced polyphenism In Eurema laeta lineata (Lepidoptera: Pieridae). J. Austr. Ent. Soc. 24, 161–167.Google Scholar
Masaki, S. (1980), Summer diapause. A. Rev. Ent. 25, 1–25.Google Scholar
McElravy, E. P., Wolda, H. and Resh, V. H. (1982) Seasonality and annual variability of caddisfly adults (Trichoptera) in a “non-seasonal” tropical environment. Arch. Hydrobiol. 94, 302–317.Google Scholar
Monteith, G. B. (1982) Dry season aggregations of insects in Australian monsoon forests. Memoirs Queensland Museum 20, 533–543.Google Scholar
Morton, E. S. (1977) Ecology and behavior of some Panamanian Odonata. Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash. 79, 273.Google Scholar
Owen, D. F. and Chanter, D. O. (1972) Species diversity and seasonal abundance In Charaxes butterflies (Nymphalidae). J. Ent. Ser A46, 135–143.Google Scholar
Tauber, M. J., Tauber, C. A. and Masaki, S. (1986) Seasonal Adaptations of Insects. Oxford University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Wolda, H. (1980) Fluctuaciones estacionales de insectos del trópico: Sphingidae. Memorias del VI Congreso de la Sociedad Colombiana de Entomología “SOCOLEN” (July 1979), pp. 10–58. Socolen, Cali, Colombia.Google Scholar
Wolda, H. (1982) Variación estacional en al abundancia de la plaga del maíz Peregrinus maidis (Ashmead) (Homoptera: Delphacidae) en Panamá. Rev. Colomb. Ent. 8, 35–39.Google Scholar
Wolda, H. (1983) Spatial and temporal variation in abundance in tropical animals. In Tropical Rain Forest: Ecology and Management (Edited by Sutton, S. L., Whitmore, T. C. and Chadwick, A. C.), Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, pp. 93–105.Google Scholar
Wolda, H. (1984) Diversity and seasonality of Panamanian cicadas. Mitt. Schweiz. Ent. Ges. 57, 451.Google Scholar
Wolda, H. and Broadhead, E. (1985) Seasonality of Psocoptera in two tropical forests in Panama. J. Anim. Ecol. 54, 519–530.Google Scholar
Wolda, H. and Denlinger, D. L. (1984) Diapause in a large aggregation of a tropical beetle. Ecol. Ent. 9, 217–230.Google Scholar
Wolda, H. and Fisk, F. W. (1981) Seasonality of tropical insects. II. Blattaria in Panama. J. Anim. Ecol. 50, 827–838.Google Scholar
Wolda, H. and Flowers, R. W. (1985) Seasonality and diversity of mayfly adults (Ephemeroptera) in a “non-seasonal” tropical environment. Biotropica 17, 330–335.Google Scholar
Wolda, H. and Galindo, P. (1981) Population fluctuations of mosquitoes in the non-seasonal tropics. Ecol. Ent. 6, 99–106.Google Scholar