20.500.12556/DKUM-92233 The Herculean task of sedentary predators in disturbed habitats the response of antlion larvae Habitat disturbance can significantly affect the ecological dynamics and behaviour of organisms, particularly those that are sedentary. This study investigates the responses of larvae of two antlion species, Euroleon nostras and Myrmeleon formicarius to a disturbance, namely stones of different mass, dropped into the pitfall traps. Additionally, we investigated the interaction between disturbance and different feeding conditions, providing insights into the ecological flexibility of these predators. Our f indings revealed that removing the stone and maintaining the pit afterwards by the antlion larvae affected the larval mass, especially for the starved larvae, which lost more mass during the experiment. Fed E. nostras larvae were the only group to gain mass, whereas M. formicarius lost mass, indicating that M. formicarius might be more sensitive to disturbance. The changes in pit diameter paralleled the changes in mass; only fed E. nostras constructed larger pits at the end of the experiment. Different re sponses of the species to disturbance were also evident in relocation behaviour: M. formicarius relocated more frequently, particularly when larger stones were present, likely prioritizing relocation over energy intensive stone removal. Stone removal behaviour did not differ between species but only according to the stone size relative to the larval size. Larvae threw out stones from the pit mostly if the stones were not larger than themselves. Heavier stones were either pushed to the pit wall or out of the pit. Our results suggest that the availability of prey, behavioural plasticity and adaptation to the natural habitat are crucial factors in the response of sedentary predators to disturbance. Euroleon nostras antlion habitat disturbance Myrmeleon formicarius starvation removing behaviour stone trap-building predator volkci motnje habitata odstranjevanje vedenja stradanje kamen plenilci true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Znanstveno delo 2025-03-24 08:59:08 2025-03-24 09:03:00 2025-03-25 03:09:41 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2025 0 0 9 str. št. članka 123123 Letn. 222 2025 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 2024-09-20 2024-12-09 2025-03-18 595.741.2 229938179 10.1016/j.anbehav.2025.123123 1095-8282 RAZ_Klokocovnik_Vesna_2025.pdf RAZ_Klokocovnik_Vesna_2025.pdf 1 41F309D1ABF4D26C57B6ED5AFC523D99 cd1e960435a897b68807493854e02e0ef1447543dca11d80ccf12aac86ea92c8 4a269836-0886-11f0-b559-00155d000105 https://dk.um.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=189589 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2025.123123 1 df0d311d-0885-11f0-b559-00155d000105 https://dk.um.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=189588 Fakulteta za naravoslovje in matematiko 0 0 0