The Dynamics of Insect–Pathogen Interactions in Seasonal Environments

Abstract

Models of insect–pathogen interactions in highly seasonal environments are developed. The models apply to insects such as many temperate forest pests that have a single generation per year and which are susceptible to viral disease only during their larval period. The disease kills the hosts after a fixed time period when infectious pathogen particles are released into the environment. Depending on the time taken to kill the host, one to many cycles of pathogen replication may occur during the portion of the year when susceptible hosts are present. A baseline model with linear disease transmission is always unstable although a stable equilibrium can be achieved if there is sufficient density dependence in the transmission process. Persistent, long-period cycles are virtually never observed. The release of pathogen particles prior to host death contributes towards stability although it does not result in limit cycles. Long-period cycles were found in two other extensions of the baseline model, one in which some hosts carry a sublethal infection which is transmitted to their offspring; and a second which includes a reservoir where pathogen particles are relatively long lived although unable to cause new infections. The relationship between this work and previous host–pathogen and host–parasitoid models is discussed.