The Effect of Light and Temperature on the Behaviour of Adults of the White Pine Weevil, Pissodes strobi Peck.

Abstract

This study was undertaken as part of an investigation of the physical and biological requirements of the white pine weevil Pissodes strobi Peck. The broad aspects of the main problem will be given in a later paper and it need only be mentioned here that the immediate objective was to define the requirements of the weevil in terms of measurable factors of the environment. During the field studies, observed variations in behaviour between individual weevils within the limits of a single habitat indicated the need for additional studies that would permit analysis of behaviour in relation to previous conditioning. The responses of the adult weevils to diffuse and discrete light sources, and the effect of temperature on these responses, were investigated in conjunction with field studies of behavioural changes during relatively stable and variable weather conditions, in an attempt to explain observed weevil movements.