Body condition and food shapes group dispersal but not solitary dispersal in a social spider

Bharat Parthasarathy and Hema Somanathan

Behavioral Ecology, 2018, vol. 29, issue 3, 619-627

Abstract: Leaving home (dispersal) like a double-edged sword can promote survival whereas the act itself is risky. The social spider we studied, disperses in 2 stages. Sub-adult individuals with lower body condition dispersed in groups to form smaller satellite colonies and improve their feeding chances. After mating, females that dispersed singly suffered heavy mortality, but survivors gained body condition compared with females that stayed behind. Thus, dispersal in this inbred society improves individual fitness.

Keywords: body condition; colony size; dispersal; food availability; social spiders (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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