Transient synchrony among populations of five foliage-feeding Lepidoptera

1. Studies of transient population dynamics have largely focused on temporal changes in dynamical behavior, such as the transition between periods of stability and instability. The present study explores a related dynamic pattern, namely transient synchrony during a 49-year period among populations of five sympatric species of forest insects that share host tree resources. The long time-series allows a more comprehensive exploration of transient synchrony patterns than most previous studies. Considerable variation existed in the dynamics of individual species, ranging from periodic to aperiodic. 2. We used time-averaged methods to investigate long-term patterns of synchrony and time-localized methods to detect transient synchrony. We investigated transient patterns of synchrony between species and related these to the species’ varying density dependence structures; even species with very different density dependence exhibited at least temporary periods of synchrony. Observed periods of...