The effects of gypsy moth defoliation and climatic conditions on radial growth of deciduous trees /

I investigated the effect of defoliation by the gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar L. (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae) on the radial growth of tree species that differ in their acceptability as hosts for gypsy moth larvae. Annual growth rings were measured from 1950 to 1992 on increment cores taken from three species: red oak (Quercus rubra L.), a preferred species, sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.), an acceptable species, and white ash (Fraxinus americana L.), an avoided species. The number of gypsy moth larvae on these same individual trees had already been recorded from 1979 to 1992. To remove the potentially-confounding effects of climate on radial growth, I developed regression models of growth on climate in a pre-gypsy moth period (1950 to 1975), and then used these models to predict growth in a post-gypsy moth period (1978 to 1992). The residuals from these growth models were then examined with respect to gypsy moth numbers. (Abstract shortened by UMI.