Functional response and prey stage preference of Neoseiulus barkeri on Trasonemus confusus 

Abstract

The fungivorous Tarsonemus confusus Ewing is a tarsonemid mite causing a so call ‘black-dot’ symptom on the bagged apple fruit in North China, and the phytoseiid mite Neoseiulus barkeri Hughes is a cosmopolitan generalist predator of many agricultural and horticultural pests. In the present study, we evaluated the biological control potential of N. barkeri on T. confusus, by determining its functional response type to prey density of and prey stage preference on both active and quiescent life stages of T. confusus (i.e., eggs, larvae, quiescent larvae and female adults). We found that N. barkeri exhibited all three types of functional response. When fed on eggs and quiescent larvae of T. confusus, N. barkeri had a Type II functional response (i.e., inverse density-dependent predation rate); however, a Type I functional response (i.e., density-independent predation rate) was detected when N. barkeri preyed on T. confusus larvae and a Type III functional response (i.e., sigmoid density-dependent predation rate) when preyed on T. confusus adults. We further showed that the ‘constant prey’ functional response models fit our data better than the ‘depleted prey’ models, as the predator left and reencountered the previously fed prey which reduced its searching efficiency. When all active and quiescent life stages of T. confusus were available, N. barkeri significantly preferred larvae over other prey stages for feeding. Our results imply that due to its quick response to the increasing prey larval and adult densities, N. barkeri could consume a great number of active prey and is thus capable to decline the current fruit damage caused by prey feeding and to potentially prevent the prey population build-up later in the season. Furthermore, predators with Type II response may be efficient at low prey densities, thus augmentative release of N. barkeri early in the season may also suppress the egg and quiescent larva populations of T. confusus. Knowledge from this study provides insights into our understandings in the biological control ecology of N. barkeri.

Diet type and prey preference of predators affect intraguild predation between Amblyseius andersoni and Neoseiulus barkeri

“…However, when present in the same niche, N. barkeri becomes an IG-prey of another phytoseiid predator, Amblyseius swirskii (Athias-Henriot) (Bohloolzadeh et al . 2018; Li et al . 2018; Momen & Abdel-Khalek 2021).…”

<p class="Body"><strong>Functional response of <em>Amblyseius andersoni </em>and <em>Neoseiulus neoreticuloides</em> (Acari: Phytoseiidae) to adults of the wolfberry gall mite <em>Aceria pallida </em>(Acari: Eriophyoidae)</strong></p>

“…To avoid the deviation of feeding experience (Castagnoli & Simoni 1999;Mendes et al 2018), both phytoseiid species were uniformly fed with wolfberry mite galls for 30 days prior to bioassay. In addition, the type of functional response is not constant, which can be influenced by the alternative food and the stage of prey (Ganjisaffar & Perring 2015;Li et al 2018;Fathipour et al 2020). Due to the small size of A. pallida (Kuang 1983), only adult A. pallida were provided in the present study.…”

Impact of a tarsonemid prey mite and its fungal diet on the reproductive performance of a predatory mite

“…Studies on feeding behaviour of phytoseiids on non-pest tarsonemids, however, are scarce. Only recently, Neoseiulus barkeri Hughes was reported to feed on Tarsonemus confusus Ewing (Li et al, 2018). For Amblyseius swirskii Athias-Henriot, feeding on T. fusarii resulted in an equally high oviposition rate as compared to feeding on the astigmatid C. lactis (Vangansbeke et al, 2018).…”