Display options
Cite
Vanthournout B, Greve M, Bruun A, et al. Benefits of Group Living Include Increased Feeding Efficiency and Lower Mass Loss during Desiccation in the Social and Inbreeding Spider Stegodyphus dumicola. Front Physiol. 2016;7:18doi: 10.3389/fphys.2016.00018.
Vanthournout, B., Greve, M., Bruun, A., Bechsgaard, J., Overgaard, J., & Bilde, T. (2016). Benefits of Group Living Include Increased Feeding Efficiency and Lower Mass Loss during Desiccation in the Social and Inbreeding Spider Stegodyphus dumicola. Frontiers in physiology, 718. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2016.00018
Vanthournout, Bram, et al. "Benefits of Group Living Include Increased Feeding Efficiency and Lower Mass Loss during Desiccation in the Social and Inbreeding Spider Stegodyphus dumicola." Frontiers in physiology vol. 7 (2016): 18. doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2016.00018
Vanthournout B, Greve M, Bruun A, Bechsgaard J, Overgaard J, Bilde T. Benefits of Group Living Include Increased Feeding Efficiency and Lower Mass Loss during Desiccation in the Social and Inbreeding Spider Stegodyphus dumicola. Front Physiol. 2016 Feb 02;7:18. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2016.00018. eCollection 2016. PMID: 26869936; PMCID: PMC4735397.
Copy Download .nbib Format: NLM
Share it on

Front Physiol. 2016 Feb 02;7:18. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2016.00018. eCollection 2016.

Benefits of Group Living Include Increased Feeding Efficiency and Lower Mass Loss during Desiccation in the Social and Inbreeding Spider Stegodyphus dumicola.

Frontiers in physiology

Bram Vanthournout, Michelle Greve, Anne Bruun, Jesper Bechsgaard, Johannes Overgaard, Trine Bilde

Affiliations

  1. Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University Aarhus, Denmark.
  2. Department of Bioscience, Aarhus UniversityAarhus, Denmark; Department of Plant Science, University of PretoriaHatfield, South Africa.

PMID: 26869936 PMCID: PMC4735397 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2016.00018

Abstract

Group living carries a price: it inherently entails increased competition for resources and reproduction, and may also be associated with mating among relatives, which carries costs of inbreeding. Nonetheless, group living and sociality is found in many animals, and understanding the direct and indirect benefits of cooperation that override the inherent costs remains a challenge in evolutionary ecology. Individuals in groups may benefit from more efficient management of energy or water reserves, for example in the form of reduced water or heat loss from groups of animals huddling, or through reduced energy demands afforded by shared participation in tasks. We investigated the putative benefits of group living in the permanently social spider Stegodyphus dumicola by comparing the effect of group size on standard metabolic rate, lipid/protein content as a body condition measure, feeding efficiency, per capita web investment, and weight/water loss and survival during desiccation. Because energetic expenditure is temperature sensitive, some assays were performed under varying temperature conditions. We found that feeding efficiency increased with group size, and the rate of weight loss was higher in solitary individuals than in animals in groups of various sizes during desiccation. Interestingly, this was not translated into differences in survival or in standard metabolic rate. We did not detect any group size effects for other parameters, and group size effects did not co-vary with experimental temperature in a predictive manner. Both feeding efficiency and mass loss during desiccation are relevant ecological factors as the former results in lowered predator exposure time, and the latter benefits social spiders which occupy arid, hot environments.

Keywords: ecophysiology; group living; sociality; spider; temperature dependent effects

References

  1. Physiol Behav. 1999 Jul;66(5):731-5 - PubMed
  2. Anim Behav. 1999 Aug;58(2):443-451 - PubMed
  3. Anim Behav. 1999 Sep;58(3):677-688 - PubMed
  4. J Exp Zool A Comp Exp Biol. 2004 Feb 1;301(2):195-9 - PubMed
  5. J Insect Physiol. 2005 Oct;51(10):1075-82 - PubMed
  6. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1988 Jul;85(13):4765-9 - PubMed
  7. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2007 May;76(5):987-93 - PubMed
  8. J Evol Biol. 2007 Nov;20(6):2412-26 - PubMed
  9. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Aug 5;105(31):10843-6 - PubMed
  10. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Aug 19;105(33):11818-22 - PubMed
  11. Biol Lett. 2008 Dec 23;4(6):613-5 - PubMed
  12. Nat Rev Genet. 2009 Nov;10(11):783-96 - PubMed
  13. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2010 Aug;85(3):545-69 - PubMed
  14. Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol. 2012 Aug;162(4):372-7 - PubMed
  15. J Evol Biol. 2013 Jan;26(1):27-37 - PubMed
  16. Front Zool. 2013 Feb 23;10(1):9 - PubMed
  17. J Exp Biol. 2013 Dec 1;216(Pt 23):4321-5 - PubMed
  18. J Insect Physiol. 2014 Mar;62:11-20 - PubMed
  19. J Evol Biol. 2014 Dec;27(12):2850-5 - PubMed
  20. Evol Appl. 2012 Feb;5(2):117-29 - PubMed
  21. Oecologia. 1989 Dec;81(4):459-464 - PubMed
  22. Oecologia. 1990 Mar;82(3):317-321 - PubMed
  23. Oecologia. 1991 Mar;86(1):25-30 - PubMed
  24. Evolution. 1999 Dec;53(6):1987-1994 - PubMed
  25. J Theor Biol. 1971 May;31(2):295-311 - PubMed
  26. Comp Biochem Physiol. 1970 Mar 1;33(1):51-72 - PubMed

Publication Types

Grant support