Differential Effects of Ephemeral and Stable Predator Chemical Cues on Spider Antipredator Behaviour

Abstract

Semiochemicals left by predators in their foraging area can be utilised by prey to avoid predation. The range of predators’ chemical cues with contrasting degradation rates might provide information of different quality, potentially allowing prey to differentiate between the immediate and the longer-term presence of predators in a location. So far, knowledge about the roles of volatile versus stable chemical cues in informing predation risk is limited. We here seek to disentangle the role of ephemeral trail pheromones compared to persistent cuticular hydrocarbons of ants (predators) on the antipredator behaviour of juvenile spiders (prey), with the expectation that volatile semiochemicals induce avoidance behaviour in spiders at a higher rate compared to stable cues. We allowed the spiders to choose between sites with and without ant cues separately for volatile trail pheromones and stable hydrocarbons. Unexpectedly, spiders avoided the presence of persistent cuticular hydrocarbons more clearly than the highly volatile trail pheromone. This underscores the widespread impact of these stable cues on the avoidance behaviour of potential intraguild prey. The response to trail pheromones was unclear, possibly because spiders always encounter these cues simultaneously with visual and vibratory cues from ants; hence, trail pheromones may not contain any additional information, hindering the evolution of the ability to detect them.