Abstract
Predators exhibit flexible foraging to facilitate taking prey that offer important nutrients. Because trap-building predators have limited control over the prey they encounter, differential nutrient extraction and trap architectural flexibility may be used as a means of prey selection. Here, we tested whether differential nutrient extraction induces flexibility in architecture and stickiness of a spider's web by feeding Nephila pilipes live crickets (CC), live flies (FF), dead crickets with the web stimulated by flies (CD) or dead flies with the web stimulated by crickets (FD). Spiders in the CD group consumed less protein per mass of lipid or carbohydrate, and spiders in the FF group consumed less carbohydrates per mass of protein. Spiders from the CD group built stickier webs that used less silk, whereas spiders in the FF group built webs with more radii, greater catching areas and more silk, compared with other treatments. Our results suggest that differential nutrient extraction is a likely explanation for prey-induced spider web architecture and stickiness variations.
Highlights
Predators face many challenges in their search for and selection of prey
Our objective was to assess the mechanism behind prey-induced trap architecture and property variability by asking the question: can differential extraction of nutrients explain the architectural and spiral stickiness variations in N. pilipes webs resulting from feeding on different prey?
There was a significant difference in the nutrients extracted by N. pilipes across the four treatments over the seven feeding rounds
Summary
Predators face many challenges in their search for and selection of prey. Because the availability of suitable prey may be2015 The Authors. The nutritional value of different prey may be a characteristic that predators use to flexibly select prey [10,12]. Stationary predators that build traps, such as spiders, caddisfly and ant lions, encounter a limited range of prey, partly, because the trap’s architecture necessitates that certain prey types are captured more effectively than others [4,13,14]. Varying architecture and/or the physical properties of the trap is a strategy that some trap-building predators use to meet their nutritional needs [13,15]
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