| Literature DB >> 35919395 |
Will D Wiggins1, Shawn M Wilder1.
Abstract
In nature, food is often variable in composition and availability. As a consequence, predators may need to seek non-prey food sources. Some predators are known to feed on nectar when food is limited. Nectar and other carbohydrate resources could also be beneficial when prey are more abundant if it helps predators balance protein-biased diets. We tested if an actively hunting predator, the jumping spider, Phidippus audax, benefited from liquid carbohydrates when prey were not limited. We also tested if the benefit of carbohydrates varied with the nutrient content of prey (i.e., from protein to lipid biased). Spiders were reared on one of six live prey, Drosophila melanogaster, treatments that ranged from high protein to high lipid. Half of the spiders were given access to a 20% sucrose solution. After 2 months, we measured spider mass, cephalothorax width, instar duration, percent body fat, survival, and estimated number of prey eaten. Spiders reared on high-protein diets with carbohydrates were larger and heavier than spiders on other treatments. Access to carbohydrates also increased percent body fat and survival across prey treatments. Our results suggest that carbohydrates may be a valuable component of spider diets, especially when prey have high protein and low lipid content as is commonly observed in prey in the field. Our results highlight the importance of diet balancing for predators, and that liquid carbohydrates can be an important nutrient to supplement a diet of prey rather than just being an energy supplement during periods of starvation.Entities:
Keywords: Phidippus audax; jumping spider; macronutrients; nutritional ecology
Year: 2022 PMID: 35919395 PMCID: PMC9336175 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.9150
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Ecol Evol ISSN: 2045-7758 Impact factor: 3.167
Fly diet effect on fly body composition and body mass means ± SD
| Fly diet | Fly body composition (lipid: protein) | Fly mass (mg) |
|---|---|---|
| Casein 2:3 | 0.09 | 0.31 ± 0.05 |
| Casein 1:4 | 0.12 | 0.34 ± 0.02 |
| Casein 1:9 | 0.16 | 0.32 ± 0.05 |
| Carolina | 0.27 | 0.34 ± 0.03 |
| Sucrose 1:4 | 0.37 | 0.29 ± 0.04 |
| Sucrose 1:2 | 0.43 | 0.28 ± 0.03 |
FIGURE 1Growth metrics of spiders after being fed flies, one of six different prey nutrient ratios, ranging from high protein to high lipid with and without an available carbohydrate source at 2 months, with post hoc assignments and standard error. (a) spider live mass (b) posterior lateral eye width (c) second instar duration.
FIGURE 2Percent body fat from surviving spiders fed one of six different prey nutrient ratios with and without an available carbohydrate source. * Denotes groups with too few samples for standard deviation.
FIGURE 3Estimated total flies consumed after 2 months of sustained feeding of eight flies a week across six different prey nutrient ratios with and without an available carbohydrate source. Post hoc assignments and standard error are shown above the mean, indicated by the bar.