The size of adult gypsy moths, (Lymantria dispar L.), a capitalbreeder, is correlated with environmental conditions experienced as larvae. Proxies for adult size such as wing length may provide information about habitat quality and population density. We used male gypsy moths collected from pheromone traps at intervals through the flight season to assess phenological change in wing length. Consistent with a previous study conducted at our reference site, we found that wing length declines seasonally, likely resulting from phenological reduction in host foliage quality. This pattern was evident at our reference site over 8 years, and at our experimental sites with low‐density populations in 3 years. We assessed forest quality using two unique metrics, basal area of red oak (Quercus rubra), a high quality host tree, and a composite value generated from a published ranking of tree species quality for gypsy moth. We did not find a relationship between these metrics and wing length, although we found that the mean size of males was larger in stands with oak. Mean wing length in outbreak populations was significantly smaller reflecting density related processes such as intraspecific competition, although there was no significant seasonal effect on wing length.

中文翻译：

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雄性吉普赛蛾翅膀形态的时空变化反映寄主树物候和栖息地质量

成年吉普赛蛾 (Lymantria dispar L.) 的大小与幼虫时期的环境条件有关。成年体大小（例如翼长）的代理可以提供有关栖息地质量和人口密度的信息。我们使用在整个飞行季节中每隔一段时间从信息素陷阱中收集的雄性吉普赛飞蛾来评估翅膀长度的物候变化。与之前在我们的参考地点进行的研究一致，我们发现翼长随季节性下降，这可能是由于寄主叶子质量的物候降低所致。这种模式在我们的参考地点超过 8 年很明显，并且在我们的低密度人口实验地点 3 年。我们使用两个独特的指标评估森林质量，红橡木（Quercus rubra）的基面积，一种高质量的寄主树，以及根据已发布的吉普赛蛾树种质量排名生成的综合值。我们没有发现这些指标与翼长之间的关系，尽管我们发现在橡木林中雄性的平均体型更大。尽管对翼长没有显着的季节性影响，但暴发种群的平均翼长明显更小，反映了密度相关的过程，例如种内竞争。