The Applicability of Some Population Growth Models to a Single-Species Laboratory Population1

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Abstract
Three mathematical models of population growth, showing many improvements over the almost obsolete logistic model, were tested with laboratory data of the pteromalid wasp Nasonia vitripennis (Walker). The models fail to successfully predict the population trends of this species when reared under laboratory conditions. Utida's model shows no possible applicability for the type of population growth of this species. Cunningham's model accounts for the amplitude and damping of the oscillations, but only if an unkonwn time lag of 6 days could be identified with some biological meaning. Leslie's model fails to predict numerically the population trends but seems to show that densities of the wasp's immature stages within the host pupae are more important in controlling population fluctuations than are adult densities.

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