THE FUNCTIONAL RESPONSE OF PHYTOSEIULUS PERSIMILIS (ACARINA: PHYTOSEIIDAE) TO VARIOUS DENSITIES OF TETRANYCHUS URTICAE (ACARINA: TETRANYCHIDAE)

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Abstract
The functional response of the predacious mite Phytoseiulus persimilis Athias-Henriot to increases in the prey density of adult female Tetranychus urticae Koch was examined. Previous studies on artificial substrates have described the functional response curve of P. persimilis to adult female prey as dome-shaped, because as prey density increased the predator was disturbed by prey activity.An experiment to determine the effect of artificial and natural substrates on the activity level of T. urticae was conducted. T. urticae showed a significant increase in activity on artificial substrates of plastic and waterproof paper compared with a substrate of excised bean leaf (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Since prey activity was significantly influenced by substrate, the functional response of P. persimilis to adult female T. urticae was re-examined. P. persimilis exposed to various densities of T. urticae on excised bean leaf disks (5 cm2) showed a functional response curve having a curvilinear rise to a plateau as prey densities increased from 0.2 to 10.0 prey/cm2.The functional response curve predicted by Holling’s disk equation did not differ significantly from the observed functional response curve.The rate of successful search and the handling time predicted by the disk equation were 0.194 and 10.34 h respectively.