Fig. 1. The effect of preconditioning time at 98% RH (relative humidity) on the survival of 10 strains of Panagrolaimus. Treated nematodes were preconditioned at 98% RH at 20°C for 0–96 h, desiccated for 48 h over activated silica gel, `prehydrated' at 100% RH for 24 h and rehydrated in S Basal buffer for 24 h before survival was determined. Survival values are the mean of five replicates ± S.E.M. Mixed stage populations were used for all strains. For each preconditioning time means designated with the same letter are not significantly different (ANOVA, P<0.05). The full names of the Panagrolaimus species and strains used in this experiment are as follows: Panagrolaimus sp. (PS1732); Panagrolaimus rigidus (AF40); Panagrolaimus detritophagus (P. det; BSS8); Panagrolaimus sp. (BW287); Panagrolaimus sp. (PS443); Panagrolaimus sp. (PS1579); Panagrolaimus rigidus (AF36); Panagrolaimus sp. (P. WS94); Panagrolaimus sp. (PS1159) and Panagrolaimus superbus (P. sup; DF5050).