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Body-mass-dependent cost of web-building behavior in an orb weaving spider, Zygiella x-notata

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Abstract

In numerous spider species, reproductive success of adult females has been shown to be positively correlated with their body mass. We suggest, however, that spiders may incur greater foraging costs as their body mass increases due to the numerous and complex locomotor bouts needed to build an orb-web. Such a body-mass-dependent cost should, in turn, affect the web-building decisions of spiders. In the laboratory, we tested the influence of body mass on energetic expenditure (measured as mass loss) during web-building behavior in Zygiella x-notata. Our results showed (1) that energetic costs associated with web-building were closely related to body mass and to web-building activity, and (2) that as their body mass increased, spiders reduced the amount of silk used per web, while their foraging effort simultaneously increased. This work gives new insights into web-building behavior and energy allocation strategies of weaving spiders.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Jerome Casas for criticisms of the manuscript. This work was supported by a doctoral fellowship to S. Venner from the French Ministry of Research. This work complied with the current laws governing animal research in France.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Biologie du Comportement, Equipe "Expression et Evolution des Comportements", Université de Nancy I, BP 239, 54506, Vandoeuvre-Les-Nancy, France

    Samuel Venner, Marie-Claude Bel-Venner, Alain Pasquet & Raymond Leborgne

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  1. Samuel Venner
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  2. Marie-Claude Bel-Venner
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  3. Alain Pasquet
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  4. Raymond Leborgne
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Correspondence to Samuel Venner.

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Venner, S., Bel-Venner, MC., Pasquet, A. et al. Body-mass-dependent cost of web-building behavior in an orb weaving spider, Zygiella x-notata . Naturwissenschaften 90, 269–272 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-003-0420-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-003-0420-9

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