A cornerstone of spatial ecology is the quantification of the patchy nature
of animal and plant populations in space. By using spatial covariance, tot
al 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 locatio
ns 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.