ABSTRACT
Nematodes occupy a wide range of habitats and some of the early larval stages of parasitic species occupy very different habitats from those of the later larval stages and adults. It is not surprising to find, therefore, that there are differences in behaviour in the Nematoda, depending upon their ecological niche and the stage of their life cycle. Nematodes, depending upon their habitat, respond to various external stimuli, such as chemical, electrical, light, mechanical and temperature. Some of these external stimuli are important in feeding and copulation whereas others enable the nematode to locate in a suitable environment. The feeding behaviour of plant-parasitic nematodes is described by Wyss, and Ishibashi describes the behaviour of entomopathogenic nematodes, elsewhere in this volume. In this section attention will be paid to the various aspects of behaviour exhibited by free-living and parasitic nematodes with reference being made, where appropriate, to fuller descriptions in Chapters 8, 9, 14 and 20.
