Competition Among Larval Dragonflies: A Field Enclosure Experiment.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-1985

Description

Tetragoneuria cynosura and Celithemis elisa dominate the larval dragonfly assemblage of Bays Mountain Lake, Tennessee, where they coexist in the extensive submersed macrophyte and allochthonous detritus habitats despite relatively high overlap in both seasonal occurrence and diet. Survival rate for both species was dependent on intraspecific density in September; that for C. elisa was also affected by the presence of T. cynosura. These effects are attributed to interference (encounter) competition rather than to exploitation (consumption) competition. The mechanism of competition seems to be predation by larger larvae on smaller larvae. -from Authors

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