Functional responses of coccinellid predators: An illustration of a logistic approach

Abstract

The functional response parameters and patterns of three coccinellid predators, Cheilomenes sexmaculata, Propylea dissecta, and Coccinella transversalis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) were evaluated to find out how these predators respond at two different prey species across various prey densities levels. All three predators exhibited a decelerating curve Type II response determined by a logistic regression model. The linear reciprocal transformation of Holling's disc equation was used to further evaluate the parametric values. C. sexmaculata responded maximally, followed by C. transversalis and P. dissecta, in terms of consumption of the aphids, Aphis craccivora and Myzus persicae, with suitable values of coefficient of attack rates and handling times on these prey species. Differences in handling times were found to be significant within and between the predatory species on both prey species indicating that predators respond differentially to prey species. Differences in coefficients of attack rates, however, did not vary significantly in most of the treatments. The potential role of these predators in biocontrol of A. craccivora and M. persicae suggests that C. sexmaculata is the best predator for the management of both prey species, particularly A. craccivora. However, further field based studies are needed to confirm this hypothesis.

Consumption rate and functional response of the predaceous mite Kampimodromus aberrans to two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae in the laboratory

“…On the other hand, although functional response is an important tool, success or failures in biocontrol programs cannot only be attributed it. Other factors, such as intrinsic growth rates, host patchiness, predation and competition, host traits, and environmental complexities (abiotic and biotic factors) also have a major influence on the efficiency of predators in managing prey populations (Pervez and Omkar 2005). Controlled laboratory studies provide insight into the development and population dynamics of arthropods, hence results obtained by this study can be useful for further study of population dynamics and the development of management tactics for control of T. urticae.…”

“…The coefficient of attack rate and handling time were the parameters used to determine the magnitude of functional responses (Pervez and Omkar 2005). The lowest value of attack rate coefficients (a) was obtained for the predator feeding on deutonymphs, and the values obtained in other stages of T. urticae were not different statistically.…”

Assessing the potential for biological control of potato field pests in Ardabil, Iran: functional responses of Orius niger (Wolf.) and O. minutus (L.) (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae)

“…Differences detected in parametric values might be due to the variation in size, voracity, satiation time, hunger levels, digestive ability, walking speed, etc. (Pervez and Omkar 2005;Seko and Miura 2008).…”

Predator–prey interactions in a ladybeetle–aphid system depend on spatial scale

“…Herbivore biomass was described by logistic growth, predation, and density‐independent mortality. We assumed a type II functional response as found in other ladybeetles and aphid species (Kummel et al., 2013; Pervez & Omkar, 2005). $\left(\begin{array}{c}left{H}_{i,t+1}=H_{i,t}+g_H{H}_{i,t}\frac{k_H-H_{i,t}}{k_H}\frac{e_P{H}_{i,t}{P}_{i,t}}{H_{i,t}+H_0}-m_{H,i,t}{H}_{i,t}\\ left{P}_{i,t+1}=P_{i,t}+a_P\frac{e_P{H}_{i,t}{P}_{i,t}}{H_{i,t}+H_0}-m_{P,i,t}{P}_{i,t}\end{array}\right)$ …”