Toggle Main Menu Toggle Search

Open Access padlockePrints

Prey nutrient content is associated with the trophic interactions of spiders and their prey selection under field conditions

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Jordan CuffORCiD

Downloads


Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).


Abstract

Consumers are thought to select food resources based on their nutritional content. While laboratory experiments have explored this, the nutritional dynamics of invertebrate predators have been scarcely studied in the field given various methodological constraints. The intersection of these nutritional dynamics with predator traits is also poorly characterised, leading to many gaps in our understanding of how different predators forage and feed in natural systems. Here, we integrate dietary metabarcoding with prey macronutrient (protein, lipid and carbohydrate) content and abundance to assess how nutrients and predator traits (sex, life stage and taxonomy) interactively drive prey preferences in the field, using spider-prey interactions as a model system. Spider genera, sexes and life stages had nutritionally distinct diets. Our analyses demonstrated disproportionate foraging (selection and avoidance) for prey rich in different macronutrients, with the nature of these relationships differing between spider taxa, life stages and sexes. This may be explained by niche differentiation among spider groups, driven by biases toward prey rich in different nutrients, or nutrient-specific foraging in which individual spiders vary their nutritional preferences to redress deficits, although further evidence is required to confirm this. This insight into the nutritional dynamics of generalist invertebrate predators extends our understanding beyond lab-based behavioural assays and provides a novel framework for other complex real-world systems.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Cuff JP, Tercel MPTG, Vaughan IP, Drake LE, Wilder SM, Bell JR, Müller CT, Orozco-terWengel P, Symondson WOC

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Oikos

Year: 2024

Pages: epub ahead of print

Online publication date: 22/10/2024

Acceptance date: 02/09/2024

Date deposited: 24/09/2024

ISSN (print): 0030-1299

ISSN (electronic): 1600-0706

Publisher: Nordic Society Oikos. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd

URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.10712

DOI: 10.1111/oik.10712

Data Access Statement: Data are available from Zenodo: https ://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13556291 (Cuff et al. 2024c).


Altmetrics

Altmetrics provided by Altmetric


Funding

Funder referenceFunder name
BBS/E/C/000J0200
BBSRC
BB/M009122/1
DurrellWildlife Conservation Trust (MR/S502455/1).
NERC
NE/L002434/1
US National Science Foundation Grant(DEB1838988

Share