Studies on predat~on are often based solely on the measurement of predator consumption rates, providing little information on underlying behavioral mechan~sms. In this study, behav~oral observations were used In conjunchon with consumption rate analyses to investigate the predatory interactions between 2 brachyuran crabs, Ovalipes ocellatus and Calllnectes sapidus, and juvenile hard clams Aderc...

predation rate is basic to any investigation of prey-predator interaction and a major component in the selection of predators for biological control. the predation rate of variegated lady beetle, hippodamia variegata (goze), fed on different densities (20, 40, 60, 80 and 100) of third instar nymphs of cotton aphid, aphis gossypii glover, was studied under laboratory conditions (25 ± 1 °c, 65 ± ...

Diet of adult pikeperch Sander lucioperca, Eurasian perch Perca fluviatilis, northern pike Esox lucius and European catfish Silurus glanis as top predators in aquatic ecosystems in Serbia was investigated during 2011, in order to understand their relationship to their prey and to investigate their food consumption, feeding and assimilation rate, cannibalism, and habitat segregation. Northern pi...

Laboratory experiments were conducted to determine the functional and numerical responses of fourth instar larvae, adult male, and adult female ladybird beetles, Anegleis cardoni Weise (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), to different densities of aphids, Aphis gossypii Glover (Hemiptera: Aphididae), on the bottle gourd, Lagenaria vulgaris Seringe (Cucurbitales: Cucurbitaceae). The results revealed a d...

Penguins are major consumers in the southern oceans although quantification of this has been problematic. One suggestion proposes the use of points of inflection in diving profiles ('wiggles') for this, a method that has been validated for the estimation of prey consumption by Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus) by Simeone and Wilson (2003). Following them, we used wiggles from 31 dep...

1. Foraging underlies the ability of all animals to acquire essential resources and thus provides a critical link to understand population dynamics. A key issue is how variation in foraging behaviour affects foraging efficiency and predator–prey interactions in spatially heterogeneous environments. However, there is very little quantitative information available on this topic. 2. We evaluated t...

BACKGROUND Most ecological models assume that predator and prey populations interact solely through consumption: predators reduce prey densities by killing and consuming individual prey. However, predators can also reduce prey densities by forcing prey to adopt costly defensive strategies. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We build on a simple Lotka-Volterra predator-prey model to provide a heur...

Emergent multiple predator effects (MPEs) might radically alter predictions of predatory impact that are based solely on the impact of individuals. In the context of biological invasions, determining if and how the individual-level impacts of invasive predators relates to their impacts in multiple-individual situations will inform understanding of how such impacts might propagate through recipi...

Accurate predatory behavior requires coordination between pursuit activity and prey consumption, yet the underlying neuronal circuits are unknown. A novel study published in this issue of Cell identifies two coordinated circuits emanating from the central amygdala that control the efficiency of prey capture and the ability to deliver fatal bites to prey.