Amplifying prey DNA from predator gut contents can elucidate predator-prey relationships. PCR-based methods have been used to detect laboratory mosquito predation by carabids, mirid consumption of pest noctuid larvae, aphidophagy by ladybird beetle and lacewing larvae, European corn borer predation by a coccinellid, and aphidophagy by a spider. To determine time limits of aphid mtDNA detection, we used aphid-specific PCR primers to amplify grain aphid mtDNA from carabid beetles at different digestion intervals. Ground beetles collected from agricultural sites were frozen to survey for aphidophagy or aphid scavenging. Prey nucleic acid detection was performed on beetle extracts using modified methods from Chen et al. (2000). Among pooled carabid species, aphid mtDNA detection is reduced over longer digestion times. PCR results between carabid species vary, perhaps due to Mg ++ chelating differences between species.
Species 1: Coleoptera Carabidae Pterostichus scitulus (ground beetle)
Species 2: Coleoptera Carabidae Agonum
Species 3: Coleoptera Carabidae Amara
Keywords: gut contents, predation
Back to Student Competition Ten-Minute Papers, A3, Systematics, Morphology, and Evolution, and B, Physiology, Biochemistry, Toxicology, and Molecular Biology
Back to Student Competition TMP Orals
Back to The 2003 ESA Annual Meeting and Exhibition