Figure 6
Population dynamics of T. urticae and T. evansi on tomato plants (def-1) over a period of 4 weeks after mite introduction in strong RI treatment (a), mild RI treatment (b), controls of strong RI treatment (controls 1 and 2) (c), and controls of mild RI treatment (controls 3 and 4) (d). For the mite release design, see Table 1. Filled circles indicate the mean number of T. evansi adult females per founder female, and open circles indicate the mean number of T. urticae adult females per founder female. Vertical bars indicate s.e.m. The number of replicates per treatment is six. When both species were released on a tomato plant together (panels a and b), the interaction between species, reproductive status and time had a significant effect on the number of female mites (likelihood ratio test, species × reproductive status × time: χ2=19.261, df=1, P<0.001). However, when these species were released on a tomato plant separately (panels c and d), the effect of the interaction was not significant (likelihood ratio test, species × reproductive status × time: χ2=0.645, df=1, P=0.422).
