First and Last Name/s of Presenters

Alexa MatkiwskyFollow
Arya AllaFollow
Kyle MaggioFollow

The Role of Habitat Complexity in Ladybug functional responses

Mentor/s

James Loving Lichtenstein

Participation Type

Poster

Abstract

How predator density predicts how much prey they eat is a huge concern for ecology. Interactions among individual predators can affect how this works. For example, larger predators might attack smaller predators, decreasing how much the whole population eats. Size differences among predators might change how individuals forage, causing individual foraging behavior to not predict foraging behavior at higher densities. To test this, I counted how many Ephestia kuehniella moth eggs Hippodamia convergens ladybugs ate in petri dishes alone and whether their size affected this. Then I compared this to how many eggs these predators ate in pairs. This allowed me to measure how much differences in their size caused them to eat less. My lab and I are still analyzing the data. My poster will display these results and explain how they might be used to better predict the foraging of predator populations.

College and Major available

Biology

Academic Level

Undergraduate student

Location

Digital Commons & West Campus West Building University Commons

Start Day/Time

4-25-2025 12:00 PM

End Day/Time

4-25-2025 2:00 PM

Students' Information

Alexa Matkiwsky - Biology major- 2026 graduate

Kyle Maggio- Biology Major - 2026 Graduate

Arya Alla- biology major - 2026 Graduate

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

Prize Categories

Most Scholarly Impact or Potential, Best Visuals, Most Creative

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Apr 25th, 12:00 PM Apr 25th, 2:00 PM

The Role of Habitat Complexity in Ladybug functional responses

Digital Commons & West Campus West Building University Commons

How predator density predicts how much prey they eat is a huge concern for ecology. Interactions among individual predators can affect how this works. For example, larger predators might attack smaller predators, decreasing how much the whole population eats. Size differences among predators might change how individuals forage, causing individual foraging behavior to not predict foraging behavior at higher densities. To test this, I counted how many Ephestia kuehniella moth eggs Hippodamia convergens ladybugs ate in petri dishes alone and whether their size affected this. Then I compared this to how many eggs these predators ate in pairs. This allowed me to measure how much differences in their size caused them to eat less. My lab and I are still analyzing the data. My poster will display these results and explain how they might be used to better predict the foraging of predator populations.