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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Gainesville, Florida » Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology » Insect Behavior and Biocontrol Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #135867
Title: INTERSPECIFIC VARIATION IN BEHAVIOR AND ITS ROLE IN TRIPS ECOLOGY

Author
item Reitz, Stuart
item FUNDERBURK, JOE - UNIV OF FL, QUINCY, FL
item Hansen, Eric
item Baez, Ignacio
item WARING, SCOT - ENT DEPT, UNIV OF FL
item RAMACHANDRAN, SURESH - UF&DE-NOCIL MUMBAI INDIA

Submitted to: Symposium Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/1/2002
Publication Date: 7/1/2002
Citation: Reitz, S.R., Funderburk, J.E., Hansen, E.A., Baez, I., Waring, S., Ramachandran, S. 2002. Interspecific variation in behavior and its role in trips ecology. Symposium Proceedings. In: R. Marullo and L. A. Mound [eds.], Thrips and Tospoviruses: Proceedings of the 7th International Symposium on Thysanoptera. Australian National Insect Collection, Canberra. pp. 133-140.

Interpretive Summary: Not applicable.

Technical Abstract: The southeastern USA is home to a complex of native and adventive Frankliniella species as well as the thrips predator Orius insidiosus. The primary Frankiniella species present in this region are F. occidentalis, F. tritici, F. bispinosa, and F. fusca. This diversity presents a model system for examining how species-specific behavioral attributes affect large-scale spatial and temporal population dynamics and predator-prey interactions. Here we discuss how interspecific variation in behavior of thrips can produce different spatial and temporal dynamics for populations of these species, and how variation in thrips behavior could impact regulation of thrips populations by the predator O. insidiosus. We examined interspecific differences in development, fecundity, activity, and susceptibility to predation. We found that O. insidiosus is able to prey effectively on F. occidentalis, F. tritici and F. bispinosa. However, less mobile prey, such as larvae and adults of F. occidentalis, tend to be more vulnerable to predation than are more mobile prey, such as adults of F. bispinosa. Previous research has demonstrated, both theoretically and empirically, that the predator O. insidiosus has the capacity to regulate populations of thrips, but our results indicate that the regulatory ability of O. insidiosus will be mediated by species-specific behavioral differences of their thrips prey.