Rain, predators, and spider sociality: a manipulative experiment

Catherine R. Hoffman and Leticia Avilés

Behavioral Ecology, 2017, vol. 28, issue 2, 589-596

Abstract: Lay Summary Strong rains and predation by ants may prevent a Neotropical subsocial spider from colonizing the lowland tropical rainforest. We show these factors to be less intense at the higher elevations where the species naturally occurs. When transplanted to the lowland rainforest, however, colonies survive longer and are in better condition when artificially protected from rain and/or predators or when they contain a greater number of individuals. Group living may thus allow colonization of adverse environments..

Keywords: biogeography; group living; range limits; social evolution; social spiders; tropical ecology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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