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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Tifton, Georgia » Crop Protection and Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #154311
Title: BIOTIC INTERACTIONS

Author
item Timper, Patricia - Patty
item DAVIES, KEITH - ROTHAMSTED RESEARCH

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/23/2003
Publication Date: 6/24/2004
Citation: Timper, P., Davies, K. G. 2004. Biotic interactions, 277-307. IN: R. Gaugler and A. Bilgrami (ed.), Nematode Behavior. CABI Publications.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Nematodes encounter other organisms as they forage for food, feeding sites, and hosts, or as they seek more hospitable environments and mates. Some of these encounters are beneficial to the nematode, but most encounters are neutral or antagonistic. How nematodes interact with beneficial and antagonistic organisms, including members of their own species, is the subject of this chapter. Because of their small size and inability to move long distances, many nematodes have formed phoretic relationships with larger, more motile organisms that share their habitat or food source. The association can be either external or internal, or a combination of both. Phoretic hosts provide nematodes with reliable transport to fresh resources and protection from the biotic and abiotic environments. The most prolific research area on predators and parasites of nematodes has been in the use of these organisms for the management of animal and plant-parasitic nematode pests; however, there have been relatively few studies investigating the behavioural interactions between nematodes and these antagonists. Competition between two species occurs when they utilize a shared, limited resource such as space or nutrition. The effect of competition is detrimental to both organisms, though the effects are sometimes asymmetrical in that one organism is harmed more than the other. Of course competition is not limited to interspecific interactions. Individuals within a nematode species also compete for limited resources. Examples specific behaviours employed by nematodes during encounters with phoretic hosts, parasites, predators, and competitors are highlighted in this review.