Brown Kenneth M
Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University at Fort Wayne, 46805, Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA.
Crooked Lake Laboratory, Purdue University at Fort Wayne, 46805, Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA.
Oecologia. 1981 Sep;50(3):380-385. doi: 10.1007/BF00344980.
Foraging patterns were determined for three orbweaving spiders in several geographical locations varying in percent cover by herbaceous vegetation. Argiope trifasciata was the most common species in early successional habitats, while both Argiope aurantia and Araneus trifolium were more common in wetter, more herbaceous sites. Discriminant analysis revealed that web height selected for webs and body size were the variables that explained most of the variation among populations in foraging patterns. Argiope aurantia forages lowest in vegetation, A. trifasciata at intermediate heights, and A. trifolium near the top of the vegetation. The body size sequence is reversed.Web radius, spider size, and web height appear to explain much of the variation in abundance and size of prey in webs. Species foraging higher in the vegetation take more winged prey, while larger species foraging lower in the vegetation tend to take larger, jumping prey like acridids. Comparison of prey in webs with field estimates of potential prey suggests that orbweavers select large insect prey. Inferential evidence indicates that interspecific competition may be responsible for the divergence in foraging patterns among species reported here. However, field manipulative experiments have not yet indicated that competition among orb-weavers is severe.
在草本植被覆盖度各异的几个地理位置，对三种圆蛛的觅食模式进行了测定。在早期演替生境中，三带金蛛是最常见的物种，而金蛛和三叶园蛛在更湿润、草本植物更多的地点更为常见。判别分析表明，所选择的蛛网高度和体型是解释不同种群觅食模式差异的主要变量。金蛛在植被中觅食的位置最低，三带金蛛在中等高度，三叶园蛛在植被顶部附近。体型顺序则相反。蛛网半径、蜘蛛体型和蛛网高度似乎可以解释蛛网中猎物数量和大小的大部分差异。在植被中较高位置觅食的物种捕获的有翅猎物更多，而在植被中较低位置觅食的较大物种往往捕获体型较大的跳跃性猎物，如蝗虫。将蛛网中的猎物与野外潜在猎物估计值进行比较表明，圆蛛会选择大型昆虫猎物。推断证据表明，种间竞争可能是导致此处所报道物种觅食模式差异的原因。然而，野外操纵实验尚未表明圆蛛之间的竞争很激烈。
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