Dissertation Research: Direct and Indirect Effects of Plant Morphological Complexity on the Efficiency of Predation of Coccinella septempunctata L

[801641] Barbosa and Legrand本研究将确定植物形态复杂性对昆虫捕食效率的直接和间接影响。植物形态可以通过影响捕食者的运动直接作用于捕食者，也可以通过影响猎物间接作用于捕食者。摘要本研究旨在验证植物形态复杂性会降低七星瓢虫（Coccinella七星瓢虫）捕食豌豆蚜虫效率的假设。研究人员建议利用豌豆的形态突变形式来测试植物形态复杂性的影响。具体来说，根据它们在边和分支上的复杂程度选择了三种形式。本研究有三个目标：1)确定植物形态复杂性对蚜虫猎物的直接影响；2)确定植物复杂性对捕食者搜索模式的直接影响；3)确定捕食者和猎物同时存在时植物形态复杂性的影响。这项工作将通过详细观察捕食者在不同植物上的移动速度、搜索努力的位置、找到猎物所需的时间和离开植物的可能性来完成。本研究结果将回答植物生理性状在营养水平相互作用中的作用以及空间结构异质性在捕食-食饵相互作用研究中的作用等问题。

9801641 Barbosa and Legrand This research will determine how both direct and indirect effects of plant morphological complexity affect the efficiency of insect predation. Plant morphology can directly act on the predator by influencing its movement or indirectly by influencing its prey. The objective of this investigation is to test the hypothesis that plant morphological complexity will reduce the efficiency of predation by a beetle (Coccinella septempunctata), which is a predator of the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum. The investigators propose to test the effect of plant morphological complexity by utilizing morphological mutant forms of the garden pea. Specifically, three forms have been selected based on their degree of complexity in edges and branching. The research has three objectives: 1) to determine the direct effects of plant morphological complexity on the aphid prey, 2) to determine the direct effects of plant complexity on the predatory search patterns, and 3) to determine the effects of plant morphological complexity when both predator and prey are present. This work will be done by making detailed observations on speed of movement of the predator on the different plants, location of search effort, time needed to find the prey and likelihood of leaving the plant. The results of this research will answer questions about the role of plant physical traits mediating tritrophic level interactions and the role of spatial structure heterogeneity in studies of predator-prey interactions.