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Food threshold territoriality in a water strider (Gerris remigis)

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Summary

Summer generation 3rd, 4th and 5th instar nymphs plus adults of Gerris remigis were satiated for 2 days in a laboratory tray then deprived of food. Within 1/2–2 days, 19 of 27 nymphs and 10 of 30 adults began to exhibit territoriality, continued being so for 3–9 days, then ceased shortly before becoming quiescent. In the field, muscid flies fed to different territorial striders at a rate of 0, 1, 2, or 3 flies/day, resulted in 8 of 10 striders (at 2 flies/day) and 10 of 10 striders (at 3 flies/day) ceasing territoriality, whereas 5 of 8 controls (at 0 flies/day) remained territorial. Thus, lower and upper food thresholds were demonstrated, the upper threshold approached both from ‘above’ (laboratory study) and ‘below’ (field study).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, State University of New York at Binghamton, 13901, Binghamton, New York, USA

    R. Stimson Wilcox & Thomas Ruckdeschel

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  1. R. Stimson Wilcox
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  2. Thomas Ruckdeschel
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Wilcox, R.S., Ruckdeschel, T. Food threshold territoriality in a water strider (Gerris remigis). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 11, 85–90 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00300096

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00300096

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