Herbivory in spiders: The importance of pollen for orb-weavers
dc.contributor.author | Eggs, B | |
dc.contributor.author | Sanders, D | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2019-03-15T11:35:24Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2013-11-29 | |
dc.description.abstract | Orb-weaving spiders (Araneidae) are commonly regarded as generalist insect predators but resources provided by plants such as pollen may be an important dietary supplementation. Their webs snare insect prey, but can also trap aerial plankton like pollen and fungal spores. When recycling their orb webs, the spiders may therefore also feed on adhering pollen grains or fungal spores via extraoral digestion. In this study we measured stable isotope ratios in the bodies of two araneid species (Aculepeira ceropegia and Araneus diadematus), their potential prey and pollen to determine the relative contribution of pollen to their diet. We found that about 25% of juvenile orb-weaving spiders’ diet consisted of pollen, the other 75% of flying insects, mainly small dipterans and hymenopterans. The pollen grains in our study were too large to be taken up accidentally by the spiders and had first to be digested extraorally by enzymes in an active act of consumption. Therefore, pollen can be seen as a substantial component of the spiders’ diet. This finding suggests that these spiders need to be classified as omnivores rather than pure carnivores. | en_GB |
dc.description.sponsorship | University of Bern | en_GB |
dc.identifier.citation | Vol. 8, e82637. | en_GB |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.1371/journal.pone.0082637 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10871/36495 | |
dc.language.iso | en | en_GB |
dc.publisher | Public Library of Science | en_GB |
dc.rights | © 2013 Eggs, Sanders. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. | en_GB |
dc.title | Herbivory in spiders: The importance of pollen for orb-weavers | en_GB |
dc.type | Article | en_GB |
dc.date.available | 2019-03-15T11:35:24Z | |
dc.identifier.issn | 1932-6203 | |
dc.description | This is the final version. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record. | en_GB |
dc.identifier.journal | PLoS ONE | en_GB |
dc.rights.uri | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ | en_GB |
pubs.euro-pubmed-id | MED:24312430 | |
dcterms.dateAccepted | 2013-10-25 | |
rioxxterms.version | VoR | en_GB |
rioxxterms.licenseref.startdate | 2013-11-29 | |
rioxxterms.type | Journal Article/Review | en_GB |
refterms.dateFCD | 2019-03-15T11:33:54Z | |
refterms.versionFCD | VoR | |
refterms.dateFOA | 2019-03-15T11:35:28Z | |
refterms.panel | A | en_GB |
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's licence is described as © 2013 Eggs, Sanders. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.