Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (Jan 1997)

Diffusion Model Applied to Postfeeding Larval Dispersal in Blowflies (Diptera: Calliphoridae)

  • Bassanezi RC,
  • Leite MBF,
  • Godoy WAC,
  • Zuben CJ Von,
  • Zuben FJ Von,
  • Reis SF dos

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 92, no. 2
pp. 281 – 286

Abstract

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This paper presents a diffusion model of larval dispersal especifically designed to account for particular aspects of postfeeding larval dispersal from the food source in organisms such as blowflies. In these organisms the dispersal of immatures includes two groups of individuals, those that are actively migrating and those that have initiated the pupation process. The classical diffusion equation in one dimension was modified to incorporate a function which describes the burying of larvae to become pupae. The analytical solution of this equation predicts oscillatory and monotonic dispersal behaviors, which are observed in experimental populations of blowfly species

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