Abstract
Spiders are important population regulators of insect pests that spread human disease and damage crops. Nonlethal pesticide exposure is known to affect behavior of arthropods. For spiders such effects include the inability to repair their webs or capture prey. In this study, nonlethal exposure of Mabel’s orchard spider (Leucauge argyrobapta) to the synthetic pyrethroid permethrin, via web application, interfered with web reconstruction and mosquito capture ability for 1–3 days. The timing of this loss-of-predator ecosystem function corresponds to the rapid population rebound of the yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti) following insecticide application to control arbovirus epidemics. We suggest this temporal association is functional and propose that follow-up study be conducted to evaluate its significance.
Highlights
Non-target mosquito predators, including spiders and wasps, are often harmed by neurotoxic pesticides [1]
Spiders with bodies larger than mosquitoes are not killed by ultra-low volume (ULV) spraying of insecticides such as permethrin [3]
In March, all webs receiving the two control treatments had been substantially restored to their previous structure 24 h later, whereas none of the permethrin-treated webs were substantially restored (p = 1.69 10-10; 2 = 30; 2 df)
Summary
Non-target mosquito predators, including spiders and wasps, are often harmed by neurotoxic pesticides [1]. Spiders with bodies larger than mosquitoes are not killed by ultra-low volume (ULV) spraying of insecticides such as permethrin [3]. Studies such as these sometimes conflate survival with lack of harm, and they have not examined effects on small-bodied spiders, which do capture mosquitoes. Spiders exposed to sublethal pesticides change their behavior in ways that reduce prey capture. Following nonlethal exposure to Spinosad, an acetylcholine disrupter, the orb-weaving spider Agalenatea redii showed irregularities in web design and lower prey capture activity [5]. An increase in spider migration was found within a large plantation where sublethal amounts of organophosphate pesticides were sprayed around its borders, suggesting spiders sense and actively avoid areas with some insecticide treatments [6]
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