Spatial ecology of the Japanese beetle, Popillia japonica

A cornerstone of spatial ecology is the quantification of the patchy nature of animal and plant populations in space. By using spatial covariance, total covariance, and quantile variance, we found that patchiness of Japanese beetle grub populations varied more between years than between fairways at a central New York golf course. We also observed that populations tended to shrink and swell around patches with perennially low density, that locations with perennially low grub density were associated with high soil organic matter content, and that locations with frequently high grub density were associated with intense adult beetle activity in the vicinity.