“Long‐term” stability of tropical insect populations

Summary Fluctuation patterns of insect species in the humid tropics are compared with those from the temperate zone, using data on species abundance covering a period of at least 6 years. The stability of a set of species is characterized by a Stability Index, which is, basically, the mean of the variances of the abundances of these species. Data on Homoptera, Dictyoptera, Orthoptera and mosquitos from the Panama Canal Area are compared with information from Europe, Australia and Japan. It is concluded that these tropical insects, even the ones from a relatively undisturbed tropical forest, are just as variable, or stable, as these temperate ones. Some exceptional temperate haibtats, such as the Schreierbach in Austria, seem to be much more stable than any known tropical ones.