1
|
Yu CN, Kuo CY, Lin HC, Su YC. Foraging Payoffs Change With Group Size in Kin and Non-kin Groups of an Argyrodinae Kleptoparasitic Spider, Argyrodes miniaceus. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.813777] [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
Evolutionary transitions from solitary to group-living are ubiquitous in animal systems. While the fitness consequences of group size changes are often investigated, the long-standing debate on whether kinship is a prerequisite of sociality is still ongoing. In the current study, we used kleptoparasitic spiders Argyrodes miniaceus (subfamily Argyrodinae, Theridiidae) as a model system to assess the role of group size on the foraging payoffs of kin and non-kin groups. We set up laboratory-manipulated kin and non-kin foraging groups and used feeding occurrence and duration as proxies for foraging benefits and feeding latency and the number of host attacks as estimates of foraging costs. Compared to solitary individuals, feeding durations of successfully fed individuals in groups was not significantly different from that of solitary foragers in both kin and non-kin groups. The occurrences of feeding decreased significantly in group sizes two and above, in non-kin groups, and in group sizes three and above, in kin groups. In kin groups, groups size two had significantly shorter feeding latencies compared to other group sizes, even though feeding duration did not change systematically with group size. Similarly, the number of attacks from the hosts were highest in non-kin groups with more than two individuals and in kin groups with more than three individuals. The juxtaposition of kin and non-kin group showed that A. miniaceus enjoyed the highest foraging payoffs when being solitary or in small groups (group size two). However, host attacks appeared to hamper feeding occurrences in kin groups, which was not observed in non-kin groups. Our results contrast sharply with the feeding benefits of kinship recorded in kin-based groups of sub-social species present in related subfamilies in the Theridiidae.
Collapse
|
2
|
Lichtenstein JLL, Fisher DN, McEwen BL, Nondorf DT, Calvache E, Schmitz C, Elässer J, Pruitt JN. Collective aggressiveness limits colony persistence in high- but not low-elevation sites at Amazonian social spiders. J Evol Biol 2019; 32:1362-1367. [PMID: 31464022 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13532] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2019] [Revised: 08/10/2019] [Accepted: 08/22/2019] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Identifying the traits that foster group survival in contrasting environments is important for understanding local adaptation in social systems. Here, we evaluate the relationship between the aggressiveness of social spider colonies and their persistence along an elevation gradient using the Amazonian spider, Anelosimus eximius. We found that colonies of A. eximius exhibit repeatable differences in their collective aggressiveness (latency to attack prey stimuli) and that colony aggressiveness is linked with persistence in a site-specific manner. Less aggressive colonies are better able to persist at high-elevation sites, which lack colony-sustaining large-bodied prey, whereas colony aggression was not related to chance of persistence at low-elevation sites. This suggests that low aggressiveness promotes colony survival in high-elevation, prey-poor habitats, perhaps via increased tolerance to resource limitation. These data reveal that the collective phenotypes that relate to colony persistence vary by site, and thus, the path of social evolution in these environments is likely to be affected.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- James L L Lichtenstein
- Department of Ecology, Evolution & Marine Biology, University of California - Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | - David N Fisher
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
| | - Brendan L McEwen
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
| | - Daniel T Nondorf
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Esteban Calvache
- Department of Biology, Pontifica Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador
| | | | | | - Jonathan N Pruitt
- Department of Ecology, Evolution & Marine Biology, University of California - Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.,Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Parthasarathy B, Somanathan H. Behavioral responses vary with prey species in the social spider, Stegodyphus sarasinorum. Behav Ecol 2019. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arz032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Predators living in social groups often show consistent interindividual differences in prey capture behavior that may be linked to personality. Though personality predisposes individuals for certain behaviors, responses can also be influenced by context. Studies examining personality-dependent participation in prey capture have largely employed only one prey species, offering the predator no choice. In nature, predators encounter a range of prey species, therefore participation in or leading a prey capture event must also depend on prey attributes (e.g., size and risk). In the social spider Stegodyphus sarasinorum, collective prey capture is mediated by personality types as a consequence of which some individuals are consistently more likely to attack. Here, we examined if an individual’s consistency to attack persisted within and between the 2 prey species (honeybees and grasshoppers) and if the same individuals attacked first with both prey species. Our results showed that interindividual differences in attacking persisted within and between the 2 prey species. Spiders showed greater participation in attacking grasshoppers relative to bees. Identities of the first attackers were not the same for bees and grasshoppers. Spiders showed greater consistency over time in attacking bees relative to grasshoppers. Bees attracted fewer attackers than size-matched grasshoppers. These results suggest that greater task specialization may be necessary to successfully subdue bees. Spiders handled bees more cautiously, which is likely to explain the observed plasticity in attacking the 2 prey species. Thus, participation in prey capture in social spiders is influenced by the attributes of prey species.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Bharat Parthasarathy
- IISER-TVM Centre for Research and Education in Ecology and Evolution (ICREEE), School of Biology, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
| | - Hema Somanathan
- IISER-TVM Centre for Research and Education in Ecology and Evolution (ICREEE), School of Biology, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Nurmi NO, Hohmann G, Goldstone LG, Deschner T, Schülke O. The “tolerant chimpanzee”—towards the costs and benefits of sociality in female bonobos. Behav Ecol 2018. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/ary118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Niina O Nurmi
- Department of Behavioral Ecology, JFB Institute for Zoology/Anthropology, University of Göttingen, Germany
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany
| | - Gottfried Hohmann
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany
| | - Lucas G Goldstone
- Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences, Ludwig Maximilians University, Germany
| | - Tobias Deschner
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany
| | - Oliver Schülke
- Department of Behavioral Ecology, JFB Institute for Zoology/Anthropology, University of Göttingen, Germany
- Research Group Social Evolution in Primates, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
|
6
|
Majer M, Holm C, Lubin Y, Bilde T. Cooperative foraging expands dietary niche but does not offset intra-group competition for resources in social spiders. Sci Rep 2018; 8:11828. [PMID: 30087391 PMCID: PMC6081395 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-30199-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2017] [Accepted: 07/06/2018] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Group living animals invariably risk resource competition. Cooperation in foraging, however, may benefit individuals in groups by facilitating an increase in dietary niche. To test this, we performed a comparative study of social and solitary spider species. Three independently derived social species of Stegodyphus (Eresidae) occupy semi-arid savannas and overlap with three solitary congeners. We estimated potential prey availability in the environment and prey acquisition by spiders in their capture webs. We calculated dietary niche width (prey size) and breadth (taxonomic range) to compare resource use for these six species, and investigated the relationships between group size and average individual capture web production, prey biomass intake rate and variance in biomass intake. Cooperative foraging increased dietary niche width and breadth by foraging opportunistically, including both larger prey and a wider taxonomic range of prey in the diet. Individual capture web production decreased with increasing group size, indicating energetic benefits of cooperation, and variance in individual intake rate was reduced. However, individual biomass intake also decreased with increasing group size. While cooperative foraging did not completely offset resource competition among group members, it may contribute to sustaining larger groups by reducing costs of web production, increasing the dietary niche and reducing the variance in prey capture.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Marija Majer
- Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, 8499000, Israel
- Institute of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 114, 8000, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Christina Holm
- Institute of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 114, 8000, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Yael Lubin
- Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, 8499000, Israel.
| | - Trine Bilde
- Institute of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 114, 8000, Aarhus, Denmark
| |
Collapse
|