Inter-Patch Movement, Oviposition Behavior and Host-Parasitoid Population Dynamics

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CroninDEB-9973789Patches are an important feature of models of predators and their prey. Empirical evidence demonstrating the importance of such patches is lacking, however. Information is unavailable on how emigration, immigration and colonization are influenced by patches within a habitat. Information on the behavioral nature of pre- and post-dispersal foraging or oviposition behavior of predators and their prey is particularly lacking. This project will link spatial considerations of population dynamics and animal foraging behavior. It will investigate a set of interacting insect species within the tall-grass prairie, which is well suited for these investigations. It will examine how patch character for a planthopper will effect it and an important parasitoid. It will combine a series of field observations and experiments with the development of a behaviorally based, spatially explicitly host-parasitoid model which will be tested against census data from natural populations. This project has important pest-management and basic-ecological implications.