Can I read Intra- and interspecific predation on the cocoons of Erpobdella octoculata (L.) (Annelida: Hirudinea) on EtoBox?

Intra- and interspecific predation on the cocoons of Erpobdella octoculata (L.) (Annelida: Hirudinea) by Johnstone O. Young is a Environmental Science article available to read on EtoBox.

What is Intra- and interspecific predation on the cocoons of Erpobdella octoculata (L.) (Annelida: Hirudinea) about?

In laboratory experiments, eleven out of twenty-one invertebrate species and all of the three fish species tested fed on freshly laid flaccid cocoons of Erpobdella octoculata, though predation was only severe from a dytiscid beetle, E. octoculata and the fish species. There was a tendency for more cocoons to be eaten by starved than fed predators. Only snail species damaged one-week-old tougher cocoons. Only one out of 471 E. octoculata collected during their breeding season from the stony shores of two eutrophic lakes had a cocoon in its gut. The role of cannibalism of and interspecific predation on cocoons in the control and regulation of lake-dwelling populations of the erpobdellid is discussed, and assessed to be relatively unimportant. A more likely regulatory mechanism may involve high juvenile mortality from as yet unknown causes.

Who reads Intra- and interspecific predation on the cocoons of Erpobdella octoculata (L.) (Annelida: Hirudinea)?

Author

Johnstone O. Young

Publisher

Springer; Springer-Verlag; Springer (Kluwer Academic Publishers); Kluwer Academic Publishers; Springer Science and Business Media LLC (ISSN 1573-5141)

Published

1988

Language

IT

Field

Environmental Science (Physical Sciences)