Desiccation resistance reflects patterns of microhabitat choice in a Central American assemblage of wandering spiders

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The lowland rainforest of northeastern Costa Rica harbours an assemblage of large wandering spider species belonging to three habitat subguilds: (1) semi-aquatic, (2) forest ground dwelling and (3) vegetation dwelling. We hypothesized that desiccation resistance should differ among species preferring different microhabitats and the associated microclimate. Desiccation resistance was assessed by: (1) measuring water loss rates of the spiders under relatively dry experimental conditions, and (2) recording desiccation susceptibility, i.e. the reactions of the spiders to a relatively dry environment. High water loss rates and desiccation susceptibility of the semi-aquatic and forest-ground-dwelling subguilds clearly mirrored the relatively humid microclimate of the understory. Significantly lower water loss rates and desiccation susceptibility of the vegetation-dwelling species reflected the highly variable, often dry and hot conditions of the rainforest canopy and forest edge habitats. Vegetation-dwelling wandering spiders are therefore physiologically better adapted to dry conditions than the semi-aquatic and forest-ground-dwelling species. The results illustrate the significance of physiological characteristics for explaining both species-specific habitat use and, in a larger context, niche partitioning within a community.

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Lapinski, Witold and Tschapka, Marco. 2014. "<a href="http://jeb.biologists.org/content/217/15/2789,http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24855682,http://jeb.biologists.org/content/217/15/2789.abstract?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=30&RESULTFORMAT=1&andorexacttitle=and&andorexacttitleabs=and&fulltext=smithsonian&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=30&sortspec=date&fdate=//&resourcetype=HWCIT">Desiccation resistance reflects patterns of microhabitat choice in a Central American assemblage of wandering spiders</a>." <em>Journal of experimental biology</em>, 217, (15) 2789–2795. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.102533">https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.102533</a>.

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