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Prey-capture strategies in sympatric web-building spiders

Zschokke, Samuel and Henaut, Yann and Benjamin, Suresh P. and Garcia-Ballinas, J. Alvaro. (2006) Prey-capture strategies in sympatric web-building spiders. Canadian journal of zoology, 84. pp. 964-973.

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Official URL: http://edoc.unibas.ch/dok/A5249013

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Abstract

Arthropods in several orders use traps to capture prey. Such trap-building predators expend most of their foraging energy prior to any prey contact. Nevertheless, relative investments in trap construction and actual prey capture may vary among trap builders, and they are likely to face a trade-off between building very effective but energetically costly traps and building less effective traps requiring faster reaction times when attacking prey. We analysed this trade-off in a field experiment by comparing the prey capture behaviour of four different sympatric web-building spiders (Araneae: Araneidae, Nephilidae, Tetragnathidae, Theridiidae) with the retention times of five different prey types in the webs of these spiders. Retention times differed greatly among webs and among prey types. The vertical orb webs retained prey longer than the horizontal orb web and the sheet web, and active prey escaped more quickly than less active prey. Among spiders with orb webs, the spider with the web that retained prey for the shortest time was the fastest to capture prey, thus confirming the expected trade-off between building long-retaining webs and attacking slowly versus building short-retaining webs and attacking more rapidly. The sheet web, however, neither retained prey for an appreciable period of time nor facilitated rapid prey capture. We suggest that this low capture effectiveness of sheet webs is compensated by their lower maintenance costs.
Faculties and Departments:05 Faculty of Science > Departement Umweltwissenschaften > Ehemalige Einheiten Umweltwissenschaften > Naturschutzbiologie (Baur)
UniBasel Contributors:Zschokke, Samuel
Item Type:Article, refereed
Article Subtype:Research Article
Publisher:National Research Council
ISSN:0008-4301
Note:Publication type according to Uni Basel Research Database: Journal article
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Last Modified:22 Mar 2012 14:28
Deposited On:22 Mar 2012 14:04

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