An inclusive approach to agricultural food webs

The tools of molecular genetics are becoming more popular in teasing apart predator/prey relationships important to food web ecology. In this project, we use polymerase chain reaction to analyze the gut contents of arthropod predators in a soybean crop system to determine prey choices made by the predators over time in this environment. Extensive sampling of the soybean field allows us to track the relative abundance of various species, including pests and innocuous species, and model predator behavior based on these data. Ultimately, the influence of a variety of biotic and abiotic factors on prey choice will be elucidated.