Interactions Among Coexisting Larval Odonata: An in Situ Experiment Using Small Enclosures

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-1-1982

Description

Field experiments using small replicated enclosures focused on interactions between larval populations of Epitheca cynosura and Ladona deplanata (Odonata: Anisoptera) - two species that emerge in early spring. The presence of Epitheca reduced the total biomass of Ladona, but Ladona had no significant effect on Epitheca. These early-emerging species reduced the biomass of small instars of late-emerging Anisoptera which colonized enclosures during the experiments; and the late-emerging Anisoptera seem to have inhibited colonization by Zygoptera larvae. Results are consistent with the importance of predatory (cannibalism or mutual predation) interactions in this community.

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