Eur. J. Entomol. 116: 85-91, 2019 | DOI: 10.14411/eje.2019.009

The effect of population density of Lymantria dispar (Lepidoptera: Erebidae) on its fitness, physiology and activation of the covert nucleopolyhedrovirusOriginal article

Sergey V. PAVLUSHIN1, Irina A. BELOUSOVA1,2, Ekaterina A. CHERTKOVA1, Natalia A. KRYUKOVA1, Viktor V. GLUPOV1, Viatcheslav V. MARTEMYANOV1,3
1 Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, 11 Frunze Str., 630091 Novosibirsk, Russia; e-mails: sergey-pavlushin@mail.ru, belousova_i@yahoo.com, chertkaterina@yandex.ru, dragonfly6@yandex.ru, skif@eco.nsc.ru, martemyanov79@yahoo.com
2 Institute of Biology, Irkutsk State University, 1 Karla Marxa Str., 664003 Irkutsk, Russia
3 Biological Institute, National Research Tomsk State University, 36 Lenina Str., 634050 Tomsk, Russia

After high population densities of insect defoliators there is often a dramatic decrease in their abundance due to various limiting factors. Here, we compared gypsy moth larvae (Lymantria dispar L.) reared singly and in crowded conditions. We compared a number of physiological parameters of these insects and the effect of L. dispar population density on the activation of covert baculovirus infections in the larvae. It was found that the population density of gypsy moth larvae did not affect the mortality due to the activation of the covert virus infection or the total mortality. On the other hand, solitary-reared larvae were heavier, took longer to develop, and showed a four-fold higher concentration of dopamine in their haemolymph than larvae reared in groups. Thus, we demonstrated that an increase in the population density of larvae per se facilitates some changes in fitness and innate immunity traits but is not related to the activation of covert baculovirus infection. We suggest that an increase in population density does not increase the risk of epizootics triggered by the activation of covert baculovirus infection and that researchers should pay more attention to studying density-associated factors, such as starvation.

Keywords: Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Lymantria dispar asiatica, baculovirus, covert infection, population density, insect physiology, fitness

Received: September 5, 2018; Revised: March 13, 2019; Accepted: March 13, 2019; Published online: March 28, 2019  Show citation

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PAVLUSHIN, S.V., BELOUSOVA, I.A., CHERTKOVA, E.A., KRYUKOVA, N.A., GLUPOV, V.V., & MARTEMYANOV, V.V. (2019). The effect of population density of Lymantria dispar (Lepidoptera: Erebidae) on its fitness, physiology and activation of the covert nucleopolyhedrovirus. EJE, 116, Article 85-91. https://doi.org/10.14411/eje.2019.009
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