Article
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Age and Density of Mated Females Affect Dispersal Strategies in a Spider Mite
Version 1
: Received: 12 April 2024 / Approved: 15 April 2024 / Online: 15 April 2024 (05:46:58 CEST)
A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.
Zhou, P.; He, X.Z.; Chen, C.; Wang, Q. Age and Density of Mated Females Affect Dispersal Strategies in Spider Mite Tetranychus ludeni Zacher. Insects 2024, 15, 387. Zhou, P.; He, X.Z.; Chen, C.; Wang, Q. Age and Density of Mated Females Affect Dispersal Strategies in Spider Mite Tetranychus ludeni Zacher. Insects 2024, 15, 387.
Abstract
Abstract: Dispersal strategies of a species can affect its invasion success. Investigation into the dispersal strategies of invasive species in relation to different factors helps our understanding of the invasion mechanisms and provides knowledge for population management and invasion evaluation. Tetranychus ludeni Zacher (Acari: Tetranychidae) is an invasive species, which is native to Europe but now cosmopolitan. Here, we examined the effects of age and density on dispersal in mated females. Our results show that older females with more eggs were more likely to disperse and moved longer distances than younger ones with fewer eggs. Older females spread most of their eggs out of the natal habitats and over longer distances, which reduced competition and increased offspring fitness. Females significantly increased dispersal probability and distance with the increase of population density to avoid crowding. The synchronization of dispersal and reproduction, along with the positive density-dependent dispersal strategy, may facilitate habitat colonization and invasion speed of T. ludeni.
Keywords
age-specific reproduction; population density; resource competition; dispersal probability; dispersal distance
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Agricultural Science and Agronomy
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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