Abstract
Predatory mites of the Phytoseiidae family are important biological control agents. Many species of this family are omnivores, i.e., besides on prey, they can feed on plant resources such as nectar and pollen. It has been shown that the addition of alternative food for predators to a crop enhances biological control. However, factors such as food availability and quality can also affect interactions such as cannibalism, and thus influence biological control. We investigated the role of quality of the alternative food in the tendency of Amblyseius herbicolus to engage in cannibalism, a common ecological interaction in many phytoseiid mite species. Cannibalism on eggs by A. herbicolus was significantly reduced in the presence of high-quality food (cattail pollen) compared to egg cannibalism without alternative food, whereas this was not the case in the presence of low-quality food (cotton pollen). This suggests that cattail pollen is a high-quality alternative food, not only because it results in increased development and reproduction of predators, but also because it can minimize cannibalism.
Highlights
Providing alternative sources of food to natural enemies has become an important strategy in biological control
We subsequently investigated the effect of pollen quality on the tendency of A. herbicolus to engage in cannibalism
We show that egg cannibalism by A. herbicolus adults was affected by the quality of the alternative diet offered
Summary
Providing alternative sources of food to natural enemies has become an important strategy in biological control. Different methods can be used to provide alternative foods in crops; one is the use of non-crop plants that provide food or prey to natural enemies (Ramakers and Voet 1995; Frank 2010; Amaral et al 2013; van Rijn et al 2013; Avery et al 2014; Kumar et al 2015; Fonseca et al 2017). Another way is to directly supply pollen or other food sources on the crop plant (van Rijn et al 2002; Duso et al 2004; González-Fernández et al 2009; van Maanen et al 2010; Adar et al 2014; Duarte et al 2015). Reduction of cannibalism can result in changes in the densities of natural enemies, and in changes of pest densities
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