Three-dimensional barricading of a predatory trap reduces predation and enhances prey capture

Abstract

Animal structures come at material, energetic, time, and expression costs. Some orb-web spiders add three-dimensional barrier structures to their webs, but many do not. Predator protection is considered to be the principal benefit of adding these structures. Accordingly, it remains paradoxical why some orb-web spiders might construct the barriers while others do not. Here, we experimentally determined whether the barrier structure added to the horizontal orb web of the spider Cyrtophora moluccensis deters predators at the cost of reducing the amount of prey captured in the field. We conducted experiments by day and night to assess whether the effects vary with the time of day. We found that the three-dimensional barriers not only offered protection from predatory wasps by day but also enhanced the amount of prey captured by day and night. Moreover, the barrier structure appears particularly useful at catching moths, the largest and most energetically profitable prey that it encounters. We, therefore, concluded that reducing the energetic and time costs associated with producing and depositing extra silk threads is the principal reason why barrier structures are used intermittently among orb-web spiders.