Toward a model of gypsy moth egg phenology: using respiration rates of individual eggs to determine temperature: time requirements of prediapause development

In this study, respiration rates of individual gypsy moth eggs were monitored using an infrared gas analyzer as a means of determining transition between ontogenetic states under different temperature conditions. Temperature had a significant effect on respiration rate regardless of the age or ontogenetic condition of the egg. Duration of the prediapause state was temperature-dependent, and the rate of development versus temperature relationship was described by a nonlinear function. Variability of the population in duration of the prediapause state was described by a cumulative Weibull function. Data from previous studies that suggested a diapause process with changing thermal responsiveness are reinterpreted within the context of a three-phase, sequential, phenological process