XII.—The Experimental Analysis of the Growth of an Insect Population

Abstract

Human populations have afforded favourite material for analysis by statisticians, and others, interested in mathematical theories of population-growth. Experimentally, however, human beings are not ideal biological material, so that other animals, such as protozoa, insects, and mammals, have been used. On account of their great reproductive capacity, rapid response to changes in their environment, and ease of handling in the laboratory, certain insects are very suitable for this type of work. The enormous reproductive capacity of insects has been the subject of comment by many biologists, but we are still comparatively ignorant of the exact rôle of the various factors involved in the limitation of their numbers.