Hitchhiking or hang gliding? Dispersal strategies of two cereal-feeding eriophyoid mite species.

ABSTRACT: Dispersal shapes the dynamics of populations, their genetic structure and species distribution; therefore, knowledge of an organisms' dispersal abilities is crucial, especially in economically important and invasive species. In this study, we investigated dispersal strategies of two phytophagous eriophyoid mite species: Aceria tosichella (wheat curl mite, WCM) and Abacarus hystrix (cereal rust mite, CRM). Both species are obligatory plant parasites that infest cereals and are of economic significance. We investigated their dispersal success using different dispersal agents: wind and vectors. We hypothesised that in both mite species the main mode of dispersal is moving via wind, whereas phoretic dispersal is rather accidental, as the majority of eriophyoid mite species do not possess clear

SUBMITTER: Majer A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8604871 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature