Aging and foraging efficiency in an orb-web spider

Influence of aging on brain and web characteristics of an orb web spider

“…The loss of physical abilities with age is a well-known phenomenon in long-lived animals such as mammals or birds, but it also occurs in short-lived species such as most invertebrates (Ridgel et al 2003; Grotewiel et al 2005; Murakami and Murakami 2005; Ridgel and Ritzmann 2005; Lliadi and Boulianne 2010), including spiders (Moya-Laraño 2002; Anotaux et al 2014). This reduced physical ability may not be directly linked to a loss of neuronal performance.…”

Orb-weaving spiders show a correlated syndrome of morphology and web structure in the wild

“…Alternatively, spiders may change their position in the syndrome as they age, spinning wider and less dense webs (and possibly reacting less to predation) as they grow. For example, in the orb-web spider Zygiella x-notata , webs have a shorter total thread length, become less regular, and have more “anomalies” as individuals age (Anotaux et al 2012; Anotaux et al 2014), and these changes increase prey handling time (Anotaux et al 2014). We could not detect this trend in our study, as it took place at a time scale (one month, although each individual was tracked for considerably less time than this) where we might not expect to see much measurable growth.…”

“…See Heiling and Herberstein (2000) for a review. Variation in web structure can influence what and how many prey are caught (Uetz et al 1978; Chacon and Eberhard 1980; Sensenig et al 2010), whether prey are retained (Blackledge and Zevenbergen 2006; Blamires, Martens, et al 2017), how much protection the web provides from predators (Zevenbergen et al 2008), and may also reflect a spider’s body condition (Blackledge and Zevenbergen 2007; Dirienzo and Montiglio 2016 Jul), recent experience (Nakata and Ushimaru 1999; Venner et al 2000), and/or age (Anotaux et al 2012; Anotaux et al 2014). Spider web structure is therefore an important phenotype for various components of a spider’s fitness.…”

Dose old age lead to gluttony? Effects of aging on predation and locomotion in the assassin bugAmphibolus venator

“…On the other hand, in sit-and-wait predators, the foraging ability may not be affected by aging, even when locomotor activity decreases with age. A previous study that used the orb-web spider Zygiella x-notata , which is a sit-and-wait predator, showed that the foraging rate was not decreased with age, although the foraging speed was decreased with age [15]. To reveal the association between aging, foraging ability and the type of predation, we need additional studies that investigate foraging ability with age in predators of both the sit-and-wait and active searching types.…”

“…Increased age has also been shown to be associated with a decrease in foraging efficiency in some invertebrate species [5,13,14]. However, few studies have examined the link between locomotor abilities and foraging efficiency as a result of aging effect in animals [but see 15].…”