The emergence of anti-predatory strategies for prey survival are ruled by the minimization of the encounters/interactions with potential predators, but at the same time by maximizing the access to limiting resources such as food or mating partners. Cues indicating predatory activity influence decision-making activities in the two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae, such as dispersion, foraging activities, and reproductive effort. However, anti-predatory strategies studied in spider mites generally considers mainly the female perspective (e.g. oviposition), leaving a gap in how T. urticae couples deal with predatory risk. Here, through laboratory experiments, we observed that matured spider mite couples were only affected by predation risk during the pre-copulatory stages of the mating process, especially when deciding to proceed in a mating opportunity. The mating performance of individuals was independent of their exposure to predation risk, suggesting that couples would adopt full investment behavior after opting to proceed in a mating attempt. Though our working hypothesis predicted predation risk interference throughout the entire mating process, we conclude that decision-making activities by spider mite during pre-copulatory stages act independently from copulatory stages associated to insemination.
Learned predation risk management by spider mites
