Oecologia (2023) 201, 929-939

Felipe Lemos, Sabina Bajda, Marcus V.A. Duarte, Juan M. Alba, Thomas Van Leeuwen, Angelo Pallini, Maurice W. Sabelis and Arne Janssen (2023)
Imperfect diet choice reduces the performance of a predatory mite
Oecologia 201 (4), 929-939
Abstract: Two mutually unexclusive hypotheses prevail in the theory of nutritional ecology: the balanced diet hypothesis states that consumers feed on different food items because they have complementary nutrient and energy compositions. The toxin-dilution hypothesis poses that consumers feed on different food items to dilute the toxins present in each. Both predict that consumers should not feed on low-quality food when ample high-quality food forming a complete diet is present. We investigated the diet choice of Phytoseiulus persimilis, a predatory mite of web-producing spider mites. It can develop and reproduce on single prey species, for example the spider mite Tetranychus urticae. A closely related prey, T. evansi, is of notorious bad quality for P. persimilis and other predator species. We show that juvenile predators feeding on this prey have low survival and do not develop into adults. Adults stop reproducing and have increased mortality when feeding on it. Feeding on a mixed diet of the two prey decreases predator performance, but short-term effects of feeding on the low-quality prey can be partially reversed by subsequently feeding on the high-quality prey. Yet, predators consume low-quality prey in the presence of high-quality prey, which is in disagreement with both hypotheses. We suggest that it is perhaps not the instantaneous reproduction on single prey or mixtures of prey that matters for the fitness of predators, but that it is the overall reproduction by a female and her offspring on an ephemeral prey patch, which may be increased by including inferior prey in their diet.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Juan Manuel Alba, Thomas Van Leeuwen, Maurice W. Sabelis, Arne Janssen

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
general biology - morphology - evolution

---

Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Tetranychus urticae	Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)	Brazil (south)
	Tetranychus evansi	Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)	Brazil (south)
Phytoseiulus persimilis (predator)	Tetranychus urticae		Netherlands
Phytoseiulus persimilis (predator)	Tetranychus evansi		Netherlands