This dissertation introduces two advancements in the treatment of random components within insect pest population models. Part one of the dissertation develops a model for predicting the mean and variance of a population whose development is influenced by a randomly changing environmental process. The changing environment is modelled as a semi-Markov process. The second part of the dissertation develops a stochastic model for the description of boll weevil ovipositional behavior under varying site availability. An appropriate mechanism of the insect's search and selection behavior is hypothesized and validation is accomplished on the basis of observed egg-laying frequencies.
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