Department of Entomology, University of Georgia, 1109 Experiment Street, Griffin, GA 30223, USA.
J Insect Sci. 2021 Sep 1;21(5). doi: 10.1093/jisesa/ieab070.
Many predatory arthropods occur naturally in turfgrass, and they provide adequate control of lepidopteran pests, such as fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (JE Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), and black cutworm, Agrotis ipsilon (Hufnagel) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Recording predation is challenging under field conditions because predators rarely leave any evidence. Clay models were successfully employed for studying predation, and this technique is underutilized in turfgrass. Little is known about whether the characteristics of clay models, such as color, shape, and size, influence arthropod interactions in turfgrass. To improve the utility of clay models in turfgrass, the influence of the color, shape, and size of clay models on arthropod interactions was studied by exposing clay models during daytime and nighttime in a turfgrass field. The results showed that arthropods interacted with clay models, and various types of impressions were recorded, including paired marks, scratches, cuts, and pricks. Although the color of the clay model had no significant effects on arthropod interactions during the night, significantly greater numbers of impressions were noticed on the blue and green models than on the yellow models during the daytime. The caterpillar-shaped models captured significantly greater densities of impressions than the beetle-shaped models. Additionally, the number of impressions significantly increased with an increase in the size of the model regardless of shape.
许多捕食性节肢动物自然存在于草坪中，它们对鳞翅目害虫如秋黏虫、草地贪夜蛾（Spodoptera frugiperda（JE Smith））和黄地老虎、Agrotis ipsilon（Hufnagel）（鳞翅目：夜蛾科）有足够的控制作用。在野外条件下，记录捕食情况具有挑战性，因为捕食者很少留下任何证据。粘土模型成功地用于研究捕食作用，而这种技术在草坪中未得到充分利用。对于粘土模型的特征，如颜色、形状和大小，是否会影响草坪中的节肢动物相互作用，人们知之甚少。为了提高粘土模型在草坪中的实用性，通过在草坪田间进行白天和夜间暴露粘土模型的方式，研究了粘土模型的颜色、形状和大小对节肢动物相互作用的影响。结果表明，节肢动物与粘土模型相互作用，并记录了各种类型的痕迹，包括配对痕迹、划痕、切割和刺伤。尽管粘土模型的颜色在夜间对节肢动物相互作用没有显著影响，但在白天，蓝色和绿色模型上的痕迹数量明显多于黄色模型。毛毛虫形状的模型比甲虫形状的模型捕获的痕迹数量显著更多。此外，无论形状如何，随着模型尺寸的增加，痕迹数量显著增加。
