Reproductive strategy of insects as adaptation to temporally varying environments

Diversity of oviposition curve observed in 125 insects was analysed using the ratio of the length of period for development to that for reproduction. On the basis of this empirical data, two extreme reproductive patterns were selected: prolonged reproduction with early maturity and concentrated reproduction with late maturity. Population growth of the species with each reproductive pattern was calculated usingLeslie Matrix under some simulated fluctuating environments where the length of time during which the environments change is short compared with the time required to stabilize age structure. These simulation studies show that there is an optimal ratio of the length of period for development to that for reproduction in achieving high population densities and this ratio varies depending on the favorableness of environment for reproductive success: as the environmental favorableness decreases, the optimal ratio becomes larger.