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Temperature-driven shifts in foraging behaviour during larval development in a dragonfly

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Abstract

Predatory performance of dragonfly larvae is influenced by a multifaceted interplay of external factors such as temperature, prey density and interspecific competition, and life history traits like age and size. We investigated the relative impact of these factors and traits on the prey-capture behaviour of Sympetrum striolatum larvae i.e., the number of strikes, captures and capture success. The larvae were observed three times over a five-week period under a combination of three temperature levels, two prey densities, and with or without a conspecific competitor. To access the ontogenetic effects on foraging behaviour the larvae were reared from hatching and their size measured before each trial. Higher temperature, particularly for young and small larvae, and prey density significantly increased prey-capture behaviour. The life history traits strongly affected strikes, captures, and capture success and these effects were stronger than the external factor prey density or competition. These results underscore the crucial role of ontogeny on foraging performance. Future studies and predictive models of foraging behaviour should incorporate life history to better understand foraging dynamics. Our study highlights the importance of integrating developmental biology into understanding behaviour under environmental change, rather than focusing solely on external variables.

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Data availability

Raw data will be available at LeoPARD [https://leopard.tu-braunschweig.de/].

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Dr. Swantje Löbel for her advises regarding the statistical analysis.

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Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Landscape Ecology and Environmental Systems Analysis, Institute of Geoecology, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany

    Jolan Hogreve & Frank Suhling

  2. Department of Ecology and Genetics, Animal Ecology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

    Frank Johansson

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  1. Jolan Hogreve
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Supervision: Frank Suhling, Frank Johansson; Conceptualization of the study: Jolan Hogreve, Frank Suhling, Frank Johansson; Funding acquisition: Jolan Hogreve, Frank Suhling; Experiment implementation & Data analysis: Jolan Hogreve; Writing: Jolan Hogreve, Frank Johansson, Frank Suhling.

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Jolan Hogreve.

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The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. The research visit of JH in Uppsala, Sweden was funded by the DAAD with a research grant for PhD students. JH was funded by a PhD scholarship of the Konrad-Adenauer Foundation until 2025. All authors are involved in the German Science Foundation (DFG) project “Changing interactions in a changing climate” (Project No. 556214684).

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Hogreve, J., Johansson, F. & Suhling, F. Temperature-driven shifts in foraging behaviour during larval development in a dragonfly.
Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-37523-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-37523-w

Keywords

  • Foraging behaviour
  • Temperature
  • Ontogeny
  • Odonata larvae
  • Learning

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