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Wright CM, Lichtenstein JL, Luscuskie LP, Montgomery GA, Geary S, Pruitt JN, Pinter-Wollman N, Keiser CN. Spatial proximity and prey vibratory cues influence collective hunting in social spiders. Isr J Ecol Evol 2020; 66:26-31. [PMID: 34108848 PMCID: PMC8186555 DOI: 10.1163/22244662-20191062] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Social spiders are thought to predominantly receive information about their environment through vibrational cues. Thus, group living introduces the challenge of distinguishing useful vibrational information from the background noise of nestmates. Here we investigate whether spatial proximity between colony-mates may allow social spiders (Stegodyphus dumicola) to reduce background noise that might obstruct vibrational information from prey. To do so, we constructed experimental colonies and measured whether the number of spiders in proximity to one another whilst resting could predict the number of spiders that participated in prey capture. Additionally, we exposed spider colonies to five different simulated vibrational cues mimicking prey to determine which cue types spiders were most responsive to. We found that the number of spiders huddled together prior to foraging trials was positively correlated with the number of spiders participating in collective foraging. Furthermore, colonies responded more quickly to pulsed vibrational cues over other types of vibrational patterns. Together these data reveal that both social interactions and prey cues shape how social sit-and-wait predators experience and respond to their environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Colin M. Wright
- Department of Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16801, USA
| | - James L.L. Lichtenstein
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA USA
| | - Lauren P. Luscuskie
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA USA
| | - Graham A. Montgomery
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA USA
| | - Sara Geary
- West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, Lewisburg, WV, USA
| | - Jonathan N. Pruitt
- Department of Psychology, Neurobiology & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4K1
| | - Noa Pinter-Wollman
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1606, USA
| | - Carl N. Keiser
- Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
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2
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Predictors of colony extinction vary by habitat type in social spiders. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2020; 74. [PMID: 32431472 DOI: 10.1007/s00265-019-2781-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Many animal societies are susceptible to mass mortality events and collapse. Elucidating how environmental pressures determine patterns of collapse is important for understanding how such societies function and evolve. Using the social spider Stegodyphus dumicola, we investigated the environmental drivers of colony extinction along two precipitation gradients across southern Africa, using the Namib and Kalahari deserts versus wetter savanna habitats to the north and east. We deployed experimental colonies (n = 242) along two ~ 800-km transects and returned to assess colony success in the field after 2 months. Specifically, we noted colony extinction events after the 2-month duration and collected environmental data on the correlates of those extinction events (e.g., evidence of ant attacks, no. of prey captured). We found that colony extinction events at desert sites were more frequently associated with attacks by predatory ants as compared with savanna sites, while colony extinctions in wetter savannas sites were more tightly associated with fungal outbreaks. Our findings support the hypothesis that environments vary in the selection pressures that they impose on social organisms, which may explain why different social phenotypes are often favored in each habitat.
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Mestre L, Narimanov N, Menzel F, Entling MH. Non‐consumptive effects between predators depend on the foraging mode of intraguild prey. J Anim Ecol 2020; 89:1690-1700. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.13224] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2019] [Accepted: 03/06/2020] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Laia Mestre
- iES Landau, Institute for Environmental Sciences University of Koblenz‐Landau Landau Germany
| | - Nijat Narimanov
- iES Landau, Institute for Environmental Sciences University of Koblenz‐Landau Landau Germany
| | - Florian Menzel
- Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution, Biocentre I University of Mainz Mainz Germany
| | - Martin H. Entling
- iES Landau, Institute for Environmental Sciences University of Koblenz‐Landau Landau Germany
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Wright CM, Lichtenstein JLL, Luscuskie LP, Montgomery GA, Pinter-Wollman N, Pruitt JN. Better safe than sorry: spider societies mitigate risk by prioritizing caution. Behav Ecol 2019. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arz069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
A major benefit of living in a group is the ability to learn from others. We investigated how spider societies learn and respond to important information when that information is held by the majority or by single influential or generic individuals. We found that groups adopted a “better safe than sorry” strategy and exhibited caution when the group or any individual, regardless of their presumed social influence, had been previously exposed to danger.
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Affiliation(s)
- Colin M Wright
- Department of Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
| | - James L L Lichtenstein
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | - Lauren P Luscuskie
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | - Graham A Montgomery
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | - Noa Pinter-Wollman
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Jonathan N Pruitt
- Department of Psychology, Neurobiology & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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Wright CM, Lichtenstein JLL, Doering GN, Pretorius J, Meunier J, Pruitt JN. Collective personalities: present knowledge and new frontiers. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-019-2639-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
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Jolles JW, Laskowski KL, Boogert NJ, Manica A. Repeatable group differences in the collective behaviour of stickleback shoals across ecological contexts. Proc Biol Sci 2019; 285:rspb.2017.2629. [PMID: 29436496 PMCID: PMC5829202 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.2629] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2017] [Accepted: 01/12/2018] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Establishing how collective behaviour emerges is central to our understanding of animal societies. Previous research has highlighted how universal interaction rules shape collective behaviour, and that individual differences can drive group functioning. Groups themselves may also differ considerably in their collective behaviour, but little is known about the consistency of such group variation, especially across different ecological contexts that may alter individuals' behavioural responses. Here, we test if randomly composed groups of sticklebacks differ consistently from one another in both their structure and movement dynamics across an open environment, an environment with food, and an environment with food and shelter. Based on high-resolution tracking data of the free-swimming shoals, we found large context-associated changes in the average behaviour of the groups. But despite these changes and limited social familiarity among group members, substantial and predictable behavioural differences between the groups persisted both within and across the different contexts (group-level repeatability): some groups moved consistently faster, more cohesively, showed stronger alignment and/or clearer leadership than other groups. These results suggest that among-group heterogeneity could be a widespread feature in animal societies. Future work that considers group-level variation in collective behaviour may help understand the selective pressures that shape how animal collectives form and function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jolle W Jolles
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3DT, UK .,Department of Collective Behaviour, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Konstanz 78457, Germany.,Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz 78457, Germany
| | - Kate L Laskowski
- Department of Biology and Ecology of Fishes, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Müggelseedamm 310, 12587 Berlin, Germany
| | - Neeltje J Boogert
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3DT, UK.,Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn TR10 9FE, UK
| | - Andrea Manica
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3DT, UK
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Kamath A, Primavera SD, Wright CM, Doering GN, Sheehy KA, Pinter-Wollman N, Pruitt JN. Collective behavior and colony persistence of social spiders depends on their physical environment. Behav Ecol 2019; 30:39-47. [PMID: 30846891 PMCID: PMC6398429 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/ary158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2018] [Revised: 10/16/2018] [Accepted: 11/06/2018] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The physical environment occupied by group-living animals can profoundly affect their cooperative social interactions and therefore their collective behavior and success. These effects can be especially apparent in human-modified habitats, which often harbor substantial variation in the physical environments available within them. For nest-building animal societies, this influence of the physical environment on collective behavior can be mediated by the construction of nests-nests could either buffer animal behavior from changes in the physical environment or facilitate shifts in behavior through changes in nest structure. We test these alternative hypotheses by examining the differences in collective prey-attacking behavior and colony persistence between fence-dwelling and tree-dwelling colonies of Stegodyphus dumicola social spiders. Fences and trees represent substantially different physical environments: fences are 2-dimensional and relatively homogenous environments, whereas tree branches are 3-dimensional and relatively heterogeneous. We found that fence-dwelling colonies attack prey more quickly and with more attackers than tree-dwelling colonies in both field and controlled settings. Moreover, in the field, fence-dwelling colonies captured more prey, were more likely to persist, and had a greater number of individuals remaining at the end of the experiment than tree-dwelling colonies. Intriguingly, we also observed a greater propensity for colony fragmentation in tree-dwelling colonies than fence-dwelling colonies. Our results demonstrate that the physical environment is an important influence on the collective behavior and persistence of colonies of social spiders, and suggest multiple possible proximate and ultimate mechanisms-including variation in web complexity, dispersal behavior, and bet-hedging-by which this influence may be realized.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ambika Kamath
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management & Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Skylar D Primavera
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | - Colin M Wright
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
- Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
| | - Grant N Doering
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | - Kirsten A Sheehy
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | - Noa Pinter-Wollman
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Jonathan N Pruitt
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario Canada
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Laurent Salazar MO, Planas-Sitjà I, Sempo G, Deneubourg JL. Individual Thigmotactic Preference Affects the Fleeing Behavior of the American Cockroach (Blattodea: Blattidae). JOURNAL OF INSECT SCIENCE 2018; 18:9. [PMCID: PMC5793716 DOI: 10.1093/jisesa/iex108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2017] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
Positive thigmotactic behavior is associated with the ability to hide from predators and is important to explain aggregation and collective patterns in various animals. For example, this behavior has been observed in woodlice, domiciliary cockroaches, ants, and fish. Lately, research on different species is focused on the importance of animal personality for ecological and evolutionary processes, individual fitness and group cohesion. In fact, it is generally expected to find some degree of interindividual consistent differences for a behavior, unless specific circumstances, like predator attacks, hide the presence of personalities. In this research, we analyzed the individual thigmotactic preference of domiciliary cockroaches (Periplaneta americana (Linnaeus, 1758) (Blattodea: Blattidae)) and how it affected the fleeing behavior of isolated individuals inside a shelter after receiving a light stimulus. We notably highlight how isolated individuals show different consistent preferences regarding their position in the shelter, which is due to the individual thigmotaxis level, before the fleeing behavior. During the fleeing itself, cockroaches nearer to the wall, and therefore with more positive thigmotaxis, showed slower reaction lantencies to the stimulus. We propose that thigmotaxis homogenizes the interindividual differences among individuals and is important to explain the individual and collective fleeing behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michel-Olivier Laurent Salazar
- Unit of Social Ecology, CP 231, Université libre de Bruxelles, Campus Plaine, Boulevard du Triomphe, Brussels, Belgium
- Corresponding author, e-mail:
| | - Isaac Planas-Sitjà
- Unit of Social Ecology, CP 231, Université libre de Bruxelles, Campus Plaine, Boulevard du Triomphe, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Grégory Sempo
- Unit of Social Ecology, CP 231, Université libre de Bruxelles, Campus Plaine, Boulevard du Triomphe, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Jean-Louis Deneubourg
- Unit of Social Ecology, CP 231, Université libre de Bruxelles, Campus Plaine, Boulevard du Triomphe, Brussels, Belgium
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Lichtenstein JLL, Chism GT, Kamath A, Pruitt JN. Intraindividual Behavioral Variability Predicts Foraging Outcome in a Beach-dwelling Jumping Spider. Sci Rep 2017; 7:18063. [PMID: 29273746 PMCID: PMC5741732 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-18359-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2017] [Accepted: 12/06/2017] [Indexed: 01/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Animal personality, defined as consistent differences between individuals in behavior, has been the subject of hundreds if not thousands of papers. However, little work explores the fitness consequences of variation in behavior within individuals, or intraindividual variability (IIV). We probe the effects of behavioral IIV on predator-prey interaction outcomes in beach-dwelling jumping spiders (Terralonus californicus). Prior studies have found that spiders with higher body condition (body mass relative to size) behave more variably. Thus, we hypothesized that jumping spider activity level IIV would relate positively to foraging performance. To address this, we tested for associations between activity IIV, average activity level, and two measures of foraging success in laboratory mesocosms: change in spider mass and the number of prey killed. Activity IIV positively correlated with the mass that spiders gained from prey, but not with the number of prey killed. This suggests that spiders with high IIV consumed a greater proportion of their prey or used less energy. Interestingly, average activity level (personality) predicted neither metric of foraging success, indicating that behavioral IIV can predict metrics of success that personality does not. Therefore, our findings suggest that IIV should be considered alongside personality in studies of predator-prey interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- James L L Lichtenstein
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA.
| | - Gregory T Chism
- Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Entomology and Insect Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA
| | - Ambika Kamath
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
| | - Jonathan N Pruitt
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
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