Kleptoparasites of social spider colonies do not track hosts' subdivided population structure

Straus, Samantha; Avilés, Leticia

doi:10.1111/mec.16718

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 49 publications

(89 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The importance of geography is evident from the clear latitudinal cline in genetic variation in the PCA and the strong signal of IBD across all populations, as has been reported for other anadromous fishes (Hendry et al, 2004) as well as a wide range of taxa including mammals (e.g., Lucena‐Perez et al, 2020), invertebrates (e.g., Straus & Avilés, 2022), and plants (e.g., Twyford et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 64%

Geography, environment, and colonization history interact with morph type to shape genomic variation in an Arctic fish

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Polymorphic species are useful models for investigating the evolutionary processes driving diversification. Such processes include colonization history as well as contemporary selection, gene flow, and genetic drift, which can vary between intraspecific morphs as a function of their distinct life histories. The interactive and relative influence of such evolutionary processes on morph differentiation critically informs morph‐specific management decisions and our understanding of incipient speciation. We therefore investigated how geographic distance, environmental conditions, and colonization history interacted with morph migratory capacity in the highly polymorphic fish species, Arctic Charr (Salvelinus alpinus). Using an 87 k SNP chip we genetically characterized recently evolved anadromous, resident, and landlocked charr collected from 45 locations across a secondary contact zone of three charr glacial lineages in eastern Canada. A strong pattern of isolation by distance across all populations suggested geographic distance principally shaped genetic structure. Landlocked populations had lower genetic diversities and higher genetic differentiation than anadromous populations. However, effective population size was generally temporally stable in landlocked populations in comparison to anadromous populations. Genetic diversity positively correlated with latitude, potentially indicating southern anadromous populations' vulnerability to climate change and greater introgression between the Arctic and Atlantic glacial lineages in northern Labrador. Local adaptation was suggested by the observation of several environmental variables strongly associating with functionally relevant outlier genes including a region on chromosome AC21 potentially associated with anadromy. Our results demonstrate that gene flow, colonization history, and local adaptation uniquely interact to influence the genetic variation and evolutionary trajectory of populations.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 64%

Geography, environment, and colonization history interact with morph type to shape genomic variation in an Arctic fish

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…We also had to replace kleptoparasites that were killed by the host when they could not escape an attack, as they would in a natural setting. Previous work in this system found that established female subadult and adult kleptoparasites remain within colonies to complete their life cycle, with dispersal likely involving juveniles and males (Cangialosi, 1990; see also Straus & Avilés, 2022). In these instances, we made every effort to ensure that the replacement kleptoparasite was of the same species and size as the previous one, although this was not always possible.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sublethal effects of kleptoparasitism on experimental social spider colonies

Straus,

Avilés

2023

Ethology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A defining feature of parasitism is the harm parasites cause to their host via a reduction in lifetime reproductive success. Harm, also referred to as “virulence,” may involve host mortality or sublethal effects, such as a decreased body condition or protracted development of immature individuals. We considered a system where colonies of the social spider Anelosimus eximius serve as hosts to confamilial kleptoparasitic spiders that steal food resources. In a laboratory experiment with parasitized and non‐parasitized colonies, we tested whether this host–parasite interaction meets the criterium of harm to host individuals and colonies. We assessed survival and measured scaled mass indices (SMI) before and after the experimental period. Linear mixed effects models demonstrated that colonies exposed to kleptoparasites had lower SMI values at the end of the experiment compared to controls, but found no effect of kleptoparasitism on mortality in treatment and control groups. We conclude that kleptoparasites meet the criterium of harm to their host to be considered parasitic and provide the first empirical measure of virulence for this study system.

show abstract

Exploring resource patch occupancy: patch size, but not connectivity, explains the abundance of spider kleptoparasites in golden orb webs

Gregorič,

Quiñones‐Lebrón,

Kuntner

et al. 2024

Journal of Zoology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The ideal free distribution (IFD) theory predicts that individuals are free to move among habitat patches and distribute among them “ideally,” in order to maximize individual evolutionary fitness. Size and quality of habitat patches then should directly impact the number of individuals occupying them, and connectivity of habitat patches likely plays a role if dispersal is limited. However, habitat patches can be distributed so that movement no longer can be considered free, for example, when patches are isolated. Challenges stemming from patch delimitation and detection rate of occupants further complicate efforts attempting to resolve such patterns. Here, we utilize as habitat patches the orb webs of four different populations belonging to three golden orb weaver spider species, Nephila pilipes (Fabricius, 1793), Nephilingis livida (Vinson, 1863), and Trichonephila clavipes (Linnaeus, 1767), and the obligate spider kleptoparasites (Argyrodinae, Theridiidae) that are associated with their webs. We examine how the IFD predicts the abundance of kleptoparasites under different patterns of patch size and distribution. We found that larger host webs, that is, habitat patches that contain more resources, are occupied by a higher number of kleptoparasitic spiders, regardless of their degree of isolation. Although the free movement prediction is often violated in natural systems, we find no evidence for habitat patch connectivity affecting the abundance of kleptoparasites, indicating that their dispersal ability facilitates the location and colonization of habitat patches regardless of their isolation. Therefore, our results support the interaction between argyrodine kleptoparasitic spiders and the webs of golden orb weavers to be a suitable natural system for studying the IFD.

show abstract

Kleptoparasites of social spider colonies do not track hosts' subdivided population structure

Cited by 3 publications

References 49 publications

Geography, environment, and colonization history interact with morph type to shape genomic variation in an Arctic fish

Geography, environment, and colonization history interact with morph type to shape genomic variation in an Arctic fish

Sublethal effects of kleptoparasitism on experimental social spider colonies

Exploring resource patch occupancy: patch size, but not connectivity, explains the abundance of spider kleptoparasites in golden orb webs

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About