Abstract
Riparian tetragnathid spiders are used as biosentinels of aquatic contamination because they are specialized feeders of aquatic emergent insects and are also prey items for terrestrial predators (e.g., birds). Analysis of both trophic position (e.g., stable nitrogen isotopes) and contaminant concentrations are needed to utilize tetragnathids as biosentinels, which can present challenges when collecting enough biomass to reach analytical detection limits, due to their relatively small size. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impacts of a controlled diet source on spider biomass, egg laying and stable isotope values (\(\delta\)13C and \(\delta\)15N). Diet significantly influenced the biomass and egg laying of tetragnathids, with some spiders losing up to 50% of their biomass in a single egg-laying event. \(\delta\)13C had a faster turnover rate in the whole-body of spiders compared to legs, which is important, as spider legs are presently used as surrogates for whole-body \(\delta\)13C values.
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Funding
This work was funded by the Department of Biology and the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs at Middle Tennessee State University. We would like to thank the URECA program at MTSU for their support of undergraduate research. The authors have no competing interests to declare that relevant to the content of this article.
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Kerr, S., Otter, R.R. Diet Affects Egg Laying, Biomass, and Stable Isotope Values in Tetragnathid Spiders. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 112, 47 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-024-03872-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-024-03872-3