Ecological Observations of Native Geocoris pallens and G. punctipes Populations in the Great Basin Desert of Southwestern Utah
Figure 6
G. pallens collected from a single wild N. attenuata population vary in their tendency to eat M. sexta eggs, but different stages in a single collection do not. Graphs show percentages of G. pallens in collections which ate M. sexta eggs within 72 h in no-choice assays; counts are in bars. Letters indicate significant differences in Bonferroni-corrected pairwise Fisher's exact tests across all groups, ; ns: no significant difference to any other group. (a) Individuals collected in May and tested immediately after collection show a similar tendency to eat M. sexta eggs (61–81%). (b) Individuals collected at two dates in June and tested 24–48 h later, after transportation to a laboratory and a short adjustment period, also show a similar tendency to eat M. sexta eggs (32–37%), although the tendency is lower than for the May collections. This could be due either to a shift in the population’s tendency to eat M. sexta eggs or to transportation and changed environmental conditions. (c) The May 15th population had a fairly even distribution of different nymphal stages and adults, which did not differ significantly in their tendency to eat M. sexta eggs.
