Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

INTERSPECIFIC INTERACTIONS MODULATE THE CONSUMPTION RATE OF LADYBIRD BEETLE

Ruchita S. Tiwari, Jamuna Chakradhari, Lankesh Yashwant Bhaisare and Desh Deepak Chaudhary

Abstract

Organisms living within an ecological community interact directly or indirectly at inter or intraspecific levels for food, habitat as well as reproduction. Henceforth, a laboratory study was designed to assess the interspecific interaction between the parthenium beetles and the ladybird beetles. It was hypothesized that the interspecific interaction between these two beetles belonging to different ecological niche would not affect the consumption of ladybird beetle. However, it was found that the prey consumption rate of M. sexmaculatus was significantly affected by the physical presence of Z. bicolorata.