Death odour changes movement pattern of a Collembola
Author
Summary, in English
We used video-tracking of individuals of a Collembola, Protaphorura armata, on a clay surface in a petri dish to analyse their movement pattern in an environment with attractive and repellent cues. An area with dead conspecifics was repellent whilst live conspecifics made the area attractive. An area which had been occupied for 24 hours by the predatory mite, Hypoaspis aculeifer, was avoided only if the mite had preyed upon P. armata before it was placed in the area. P. armata lost their looping behaviour, moved faster and more straightened out (decreased turning rate) in the presence of attractive or repellent odours. The resulting net squared displacement was faster than in the control and best described as a correlated random walk. Our results emphasise the importance of considering varying movement pattern in response to environmental cues when predicting dispersal and spatial distribution of an animal.
Department/s
Publishing year
2004
Language
English
Pages
509-517
Publication/Series
Oikos
Volume
104
Issue
3
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Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
Topic
- Ecology
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1600-0706