Life Sciences Commons^™

Molecular Gut Content Analysis Of Different Spider Body Parts, Nuria Macías-Hernández, Kacie J. Athey, Vanina Tonzo, Owen S. Wangensteen, Miquel Arnedo, James D Harwood

Entomology Faculty Publications

Molecular gut-content analysis has revolutionized the study of food webs and feeding interactions, allowing the detection of prey DNA within the gut of many organisms. However, successful prey detection is a challenging procedure in which many factors affect every step, starting from the DNA extraction process. Spiders are liquid feeders with branched gut diverticula extending into their legs and throughout the prosoma, thus digestion takes places in different parts of the body and simple gut dissection is not possible. In this study, we investigated differences in prey detectability in DNA extracts from different parts of the spider´s body: legs, prosoma …

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 …