An Experimental Analysis of the Cause of Population Fluctuations

Abstract

4 cultures of Tribolium confusum (the confused flour beetle) were set up; 3 with 8 pairs of beetles in each and the 4th with 16 adult [male] beetles. In the population containing only [male][male], eggs were added each day at the rate that they would have been added if half the population had been [male][male]. All 4 cultures showed the same rise and fall of the egg populations, the eggs in the synthetic culture being reduced just as much as those in natural populations, probably due to the eating of eggs by the newly hatched larvae.