Biological control can be severely disrupted by hot and dry environmental conditions associated with climate change. These may alter the food web configuration of arthropod communities through their effects on species interactions. They could disrupt competition between phytoseiid predators Euseius stipulatus, Neoseiulus californicus, Phytoseiulus persimilis, which are key natural enemies Tetra...

Life history theory predicts that females should produce few large eggs under food stress and many small eggs when food is abundant. We tested this prediction in three female-biased size-dimorphic predatory mites feeding on herbivorous spider mite prey: Phytoseiulus persimilis, a specialized spider mite predator; Neoseiulus californicus, a generalist preferring spider mites; Amblyseius anderson...

Animals are commonly exposed to multiple environmental stimuli, but whether, and under which circumstances, they can attend to multiple stimuli in multitask learning challenges is elusive. Here, we assessed whether simultaneously occurring chemosensory stimuli interfere with each other in a dual-task learning challenge. We exposed predatory mites Neoseiulus californicus early in life to either ...

Polyandry is more widespread than anticipated from Bateman's principle but its ultimate (evolutionary) causes and proximate (mechanistic) correlates are more difficult to pinpoint than those of polygyny. Here, we combined mating experiments, quantification of reproductive traits and microsatellite genotyping to determine the fitness implications of polyandry in two predatory mite species, where...