Nature 287, 17 - 21 (04 September 1980); doi:10.1038/287017a0

Nicholson's blowflies revisited

W. S. C. Gurney, S. P. Blythe & R. M. Nisbet

Department of Applied Physics, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G4 0NG, UK

A simple time-delay model of laboratory insect populations which postulates a 'humped' relationship between future adult recruitment and current adult population gives good quantitative agreement with Nicholson's classic blowfly data and explains the appearance of narrow 'discrete' generations in cycling populations.

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