Blind, soil-living springtails such as Protaphorura armata must use either chemical or mechanical cues to recognise potential predators. Chemical information may come directly from the predator or indirectly, e.g. from an injured conspecific or heterospecific. We used a video-computer system to record the movement of individuals in an arena, and EthoVision software to analyse their movement patterns.

Springtails did not avoid areas where predatory mites Hypoaspis aculeifer had been moving around or where heterospecifics Folsomia candida had been killed, but areas where dead conspecifics had been laid repelled them. Springtails could also sense that live conspecifics had moved around in an area, and were attracted to it. Both repellent and attractant chemicals resulted in a changed movement pattern. Springtails were more active and took a straighter route when exposed to repellent odours; the latter effect was also seen when they were exposed to attractive chemicals. This may be a consequence of individuals moving directly towards an attractant or away from a repellent.

Paper presented at Measuring Behavior 2002 , 4^th International Conference on Methods and Techniques in Behavioral Research, 27-30 August 2002, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

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