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Foraging at the thermal limit: burrowing spiders (Seothyra, Eresidae) in the Namib desert dunes by Y. D. Lubin; J. R. Henschel is a Environmental Science article available to read on EtoBox.

What is Foraging at the thermal limit: burrowing spiders (Seothyra, Eresidae) in the Namib desert dunes about?

In the Namib Desert dunes, the web of Seothyra sp. (Eresidae) comprises sticky silk lining the edges of a horizontal mat on the sand surface. The spider sits in a silk-lined burrow attached to the mat. Arthropods become entangled in the sticky silk of the mat and are attacked and pulled into the burrow by the spider. We investigated the influence of sand surface temperature on the activity of spiders during the summer. We determined the range of thermal conditions encountered by spiders, their temperature tolerance and the influence of temperature on foraging activity and prey handling behavior. The environmental temperatures available to Seothyra vary from 17-33° C at the coolest time of day to 33-73° C at the hottest. When prevented from retreating into burrows, spiders showed signs of thermal stress at about 49° C, whereas unrestrained spiders continued to forage at web temperatures above 65° C by moving between the hot surface mat and the cooler burrow. Spiders responded quicker to prey stimuli during the hot hours of the day and completed prey capture sequences in significantly less time at surface temperatures above 49° C than below. Furthermore, captured arthropods succumbed

Who reads Foraging at the thermal limit: burrowing spiders (Seothyra, Eresidae) in the Namib desert dunes?

Author

Y. D. Lubin; J. R. Henschel

Publisher

Springer-Verlag; Springer Verlag; Springer Science and Business Media LLC (ISSN 0029-8549)

Published

1990

Language

EN

Field

Environmental Science (Physical Sciences)