Vergara - 1976 - Physiological and morphological adaptability of ri

366 crumars AND RICE
rliferrenger: I do not know ofany programs that do this in a useful way There are computer
programs simulating insect pest populations on crop plants. however. that are becoming very
useful in developing insect control strategies and decisions.
h-‘IANIIELZ Itlany of the phases and aspects of insect development you mentioned as subject to
climatic influence are also known to have rhythmicit)". which in turn is synchronized and
controlled by an internal rhythm. Any persistent regular fluctuation of an extema] thctor,
however, can also rephase the internal rhythm. Under controlled environments, the fluctuations
simulated are very regular, but under natural environments these may be highly variable. Will
you comment on this?
Afessenger: I agree that such circadian rhythms do occur and may be entrained by such
controlled conditions. I am not sure that such possibilities would be unnatural. There are many
24-hour periodicities in natural environments, and so simulating them in the phytotron should
not lead to unnatural results.