Katarina Hedlund
Professor
The predatory mite Hypoaspis aculeifer is attracted to food of its fungivorous prey
Author
Summary, in English
To locate a prey a predator may rely on information originating from the habitat or the food of the prey, from the prey itself or its feeding activities. This study examines the origin of information used by the soil living predatory mite Hypoaspis aculeifer (Canestrini) when foraging for a fungivorous collembolan prey Folsomia f metaria (L.). Preference experiments were performed in Petri dishes, where the mite chose between fungal or agar cores with or without prey traces. The mite was attracted to fungi, but not to prey-related cues or other cues induced by grazing of collembolans. This suggests a foraging strategy of a generalist predator that mainly relies on fungal stimuli that lead to an area, where the probability of encountering fungivorous prey is high.
Department/s
- Department of Biology
- Soil Ecology
Publishing year
1999-01-01
Language
English
Pages
11-17
Publication/Series
Pedobiologia
Volume
43
Issue
1
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Elsevier
Topic
- Ecology
Keywords
- Collembola
- Infochemicals
- Predatory mites
- Soil fungi
- Tritrophic interactions
Status
Published
Research group
- Soil Ecology
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0031-4056