García-Justiniano, Alicia
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Publication Elemental composition, web architecture, and morphometrics: The case of Leucauge venusta (Walckenaer, 1842) in three forests of Puerto Rico(2019-12-05) García-Justiniano, Alicia; Acosta-Mercado, Dimaris; College of Arts and Sciences - Sciences; Santos-Flores, Carlos J.; Van Ee, Benjamin; Department of Biology; Zapata, RocioWeb building spiders are usually passive predators that do not typically change their location once they are established; this suggests that factors such as vegetation and canopy density could have a significant influence on their predatory success. Leucauge venusta (Walckenaer, 1842) is a common generalist web-building spider in Puerto Rico across temperature and humidity gradients. To better understand how predator-prey interactions can be influenced by environmental conditions and how factors like canopy coverage and habitat selection might influence L. venusta foraging success, we investigated if its elemental composition (δ13C, δ15N and C:N ratios), web architecture (inclination, width, length and top-to-hub distance), and morphometric traits (total body length, cephalothorax width, abdomen length, and abdomen width) vary among individuals from Toro Negro State Forest, Susúa State Forest, and Guánica Dry Forest Reserve. In general, differences in elemental composition, web architecture, and morphometric traits were observed. Our results suggest that: (1) elemental composition of L. venusta could be affected by the type of prey and possible induction of nutrient storage due to food intake limitation, (2) web architecture parameter of inclination could be influenced by web location, while web size could be affected by food intake, and (3) factors that might have affected the overall morphometry of L. venusta include recent prey availability and consumption (for the abdomen), and spider’s development stage (for the cephalothorax).