The natural mortality of wheat-bulb fly larvae.
Abstract
In further investigations at Rothamsted [cf. preceding abstract], parasitism, overcrowding (two or more larvae in the same shoot), disease and predation had little effect on the mortality of larvae of Hylemya (Leptohylemyia) coarctata (Fall.), which seemed to depend on the supply of food for the younger larvae. When these were too abundant, they left insufficient for the older ones. Evidence was obtained indicating that the mortality of both newly hatched and older larvae was related to the number of shoots available per larva at the time of hatching.