The present work showed that spider mite-infested leaves placed in the light were more attractive to predatory mites than the infested leaves placed in the dark; furthermore, an increase in the light intensity enhanced this attractiveness. However, the increase of the light intensity did not change the attractiveness of the uninfested leaves to predatory mites. The capacity of cyanide-resistant respiration and the photosynthetic rates of both the infested and uninfested leaves increased with increasing light intensities, whereas the photosystem (PS) II chlorophyll (Chl) fluorescence decreased. The increase of the capacity of cyanide-resistant respiration in the infested leaves was more dramatic than that in the uninfested leaves, whereas the values of photosynthetic rates and Chl fluorescence were lower in the infested leaves than those in the uninfested leaves. Treatment of the infested and uninfested leaves with 1 mM salicylhydroxamic acid (SHAM, an inhibitor of cyanide-resistant respiration) decreased photosynthetic rates and caused further reductions in PSII fluorescence, especially under a higher light intensity. In contrast, the effects of SHAM on PSII fluorescence parameters and photosynthetic rates of the infested leaves were more dramatic than on those of the uninfested leaves. The treatment with SHAM did not significantly change the attractiveness of the infested or uninfested leaves to the predatory mites under all of the light intensities tested. These results indicated that cyanide-resistant respiration was not directly associated with the light-induced attraction of predators to plants, but it could play a role in the protection of photosynthesis. Such role might become relatively more important when photosynthesis is impaired by herbivores infestation. and H. Q. Feng ... [et al.].