Functional response ofNeoseiulus californicus(Acari: Phytoseiidae) toTetranychus urticae(Acari: Tetranychidae) on strawberry leaves

Abstract

Neoseiulus californicus (McGregor) is a predatory mite employed for biological control of the agricultural pest Tetranychus urticae (Koch). We explored whether environmental differences, in this case the trichome densities of abaxial leaf surfaces of strawberry cultivars (‘Maehyang’ and ‘Sulhyang’ varieties) affect the functional response of adult female N. californicus preying on immature stages (egg, larva and nymph) of T. urticae. We also evaluated the functional response of N. californicus to eggs of T. urticae at different temperatures (15, 20, 25, 30 and 35°C). We conducted a logistic regression of the proportion of prey consumed as a function of initial prey density to identify functional response types, and used nonlinear least‐squares regression and the random predator equation to estimate attack rates and handling times. The functional response of adult female N. californicus to T. urticae was not influenced by non‐glandular trichomes on abaxial leaves but was affected by temperature. Overall, adult female N. californicus exhibited a type 2 functional response to T. urticae. The handling time of N. californicus was highest (1.9970 h) against T. urticae nymphs. The attack rate did not change much at 15–30°C, but was significantly higher at 35°C. The handling time decreased significantly with increasing temperature at 15–35°C. At 35°C, the attack rate was highest (0.2087) and the handling time was lowest (0.9511 h).

A simulation-based method to compare the pest suppression potential of predators: A case study with spiders

“…In fact, in many published works the maximum attack rate is calculated without any dispersion measure or is compared using statistical techniques available from expensive software packages which may limit the number of researchers that could have access to them (e.g. Ahn et al, 2010;Dinis et al, 2016;Mercado et al, 2017).…”

Temperature dependent functional response of Diaeretiella rapae (Hymenoptera: Aphidiidae) to the cabbage aphid, Brevicoryne brassicae (Hemiptera: Aphididae)

“…A similar temperature-dependent influence on functional response parameters with a decrease in handling time with increase in temperature without significant effects on search rates is recorded for predators, e.g. the predatory mite Neoseiulus californicus (McGregor) attacking Tetranychus urticae Koch (Ahn et al, 2009). Considering the effect of global warming and climate change, the effect temperature has on the handling time of D. rapae indicates that this parasitoid performs best at temperatures around 25°C and it is likely to be less effective at higher temperatures.…”

<strong>Molecular and biological characterization of <em>Neoseiulus</em> species from China</strong>

“…The functional response of phytoseiids is affected by a number of factors, such as different feeding history (Castagnoli & Simoni 1999), environmental temperature (Gotoh et al 2004), different prey species (Escudero & Ferragut 2005) and the physical characteristics of host plant (Ahn et al 2010). Functional response can show the efficiencies of studies and predation rates for predators and evaluate the ability of predators to regulate prey population (Xiao & Fadamiro 2010;Fathipour & Maleknia 2016).…”