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Quantifying Aphid Predation Rates Of Generalist Predators In The Field, James D. Harwood, John J. Obrycki
Quantifying Aphid Predation Rates Of Generalist Predators In The Field, James D. Harwood, John J. Obrycki
Entomology Faculty Publications
The community of predators within agroecosystems has the potential to restrict aphid populations, especially early in the season before exponential increases in density and prior to the arrival of specialist natural enemies. Although direct observations of predation, laboratory feeding trials and manipulative field studies have been used to estimate levels of biological control exerted by different species (or potentially negative interactions between them), it is often difficult to extrapolate results to naturally occurring interactions in the field.
Over 100 investigations have utilized gut-content analysis to estimate aphid predation rates by predators. Throughout the last century, gut dissection, which enables the …