Abstract
The mechanisms by which spiders limit prey populations were investigated with specific reference to the criteria required for equilibrium point control, a predator–prey model in the food-web literature that explains top-down effects on lower trophic levels. In this paper we review results of previous studies that demonstrate that spiders meet two of the four criteria of equilibrium point control: (1) they are generalist feeders, and (2) they are self-damped. We further present experimental evidence for the other two criteria of equilibrium point control: (3) spiders respond to temporal and spatial patterns of prey availability, and (4) species assemblages of spiders better limit assemblages of associated prey species than do individual spider species. We propose that the exhibition of equilibrium point control of associated prey populations by spiders will limit their role in agroecosystems to one of buffers to exponential increases in prey population numbers.
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