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Risk-Prone and Risk-Averse Foraging Strategies Enable Niche Partitioning by Two Diurnal Orb-Weaving Spider Species

Niche partitioning is a major component in understanding community ecology and how ecologically similar species coexist. Temporal and spatial partitioning and differences in foraging strategy, including sensitivity to risk (variance), likely contribute to partitioning as well. Here, we approach this partitioning with fine resolution to investigate differences in overall strategy between two species of diurnal, orb-weaving spiders, Verrucosa arenata and Micrathena gracilis (Araneae: Araneidae), that share similar spatial positioning, temporal foraging window, and prey. Through field observation, we found that V. arenata individuals appear to increase spatial and temporal sampling to compensate for an overall risk-prone strategy that depends on the interception and active capture of rare, large prey. Conversely, M. gracilis individuals employ a risk-averse strategy relying on passive capture of small but abundant prey consumed alongside the orb. We have thus identified how differing risk-sensitive foraging strategies may contribute to niche partitioning between otherwise similar species.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:ETSU/oai:dc.etsu.edu:etd-5572
Date01 May 2022
CreatorsLong, Mitchell D
PublisherDigital Commons @ East Tennessee State University
Source SetsEast Tennessee State University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceElectronic Theses and Dissertations
RightsCopyright by the authors.

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