Strategies of aphidophagous predators: lessons for modelling insect predator-prey dynamics

Both theoretical and empirical evidence indicate that in systems where inse ct predators have longer developmental times than their prey the predators have little impact on the abundance of their prey. In assessing the 'effect iveness' of a predator for biological control one should take into account that selection maximizes predator fitness, not its effectiveness as a bioco ntrol agent. Therefore, predators that have a long developmental time relat ive to their prey are unlikely to be the best biocontrol agents. If these r esults can be generalized to other predator-prey systems, then it is clear that an understanding of predator-prey dynamics can only be achieved by stu dying predators.