Loading…

Iterative Evolution of Increased Behavioral Variation Characterizes the Transition to Sociality in Spiders and Proves Advantageous

The evolution of group living is regarded as a major evolutionary transition and is commonly met with correlated shifts in ancillary characters. We tested for associations between social tendency and a myriad of abiotic variables (e.g., temperature and precipitation) and behavioral traits (e.g., bol...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American naturalist 2012-10, Vol.180 (4), p.496-510
Main Authors: Pruitt, Jonathan N., Oufiero, Christopher E., Avilés, Leticia, Riechert, Susan E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
cited_by cdi_FETCH-LOGICAL-c460t-eba32ede096463d6a3df69109b5873ee2ff24d81ee530c24715ffa0a004456003
cites cdi_FETCH-LOGICAL-c460t-eba32ede096463d6a3df69109b5873ee2ff24d81ee530c24715ffa0a004456003
container_end_page 510
container_issue 4
container_start_page 496
container_title The American naturalist
container_volume 180
creator Pruitt, Jonathan N.
Oufiero, Christopher E.
Avilés, Leticia
Riechert, Susan E.
description The evolution of group living is regarded as a major evolutionary transition and is commonly met with correlated shifts in ancillary characters. We tested for associations between social tendency and a myriad of abiotic variables (e.g., temperature and precipitation) and behavioral traits (e.g., boldness, activity level, and aggression) in a clade of spiders that exhibit highly variable social structures (genusAnelosimus). We found that, relative to their subsocial relatives, social species tended to exhibit reduced aggressiveness toward prey, increased fearfulness toward predators, and reduced activity levels, and they tended to occur in warm, wet habitats with low average wind velocities. Within-species variation in aggressiveness and boldness was also positively associated with sociality. We then assessed the functional consequences of within-species trait variation on reconstituted colonies of four test species (Anelosimus eximius,Anelosimus rupununi,Anelosimus guacamayos, andAnelosimus oritoyacu). We used colonies consisting of known ratios of docile versus aggressive individuals and group foraging success as a measure of colony performance. In all four test species, we found that groups composed of a mixture of docile and aggressive individuals outperformed monotypic groups. Mixed groups were more effective at subduing medium and large prey, and mixed groups collectively gained more mass during shared feeding events. Our results suggest that the iterative evolution of depressed aggressiveness and increased within-species behavioral variation in social spiders is advantageous and could be an adaptation to group living that is analogous to the formation of morphological castes within the social insects.
doi_str_mv 10.1086/667576
format article
fullrecord <record><control><sourceid>jstor_pubme</sourceid><recordid>TN_cdi_pubmed_primary_22976012</recordid><sourceformat>XML</sourceformat><sourcesystem>PC</sourcesystem><jstor_id>10.1086/667576</jstor_id><sourcerecordid>10.1086/667576</sourcerecordid><originalsourceid>FETCH-LOGICAL-c460t-eba32ede096463d6a3df69109b5873ee2ff24d81ee530c24715ffa0a004456003</originalsourceid><addsrcrecordid>eNqN0VtrFDEUAOBBFLtW_QkS8EJfRnObzOSxLlUXCgqtvg5nkzPdLLOTNckM1Ed_udnu2gVB6FMI-c7JuRTFS0bfM9qoD0rVVa0eFTNWibqsBBePixmlVJSUyfqkeBbjOl-11NXT4oRzXSvK-Kz4vUgYILkJycXk-zE5PxDfkcVgAkJESz7iCibnA_TkBwQHd2K-ggAmh7pfGElaIbkOMER395g8ufLGQe_SLXEDudo6iyESGCz5FvyUI87tBEOCG_RjfF486aCP-OJwnhbfP11cz7-Ul18_L-bnl6WRiqYSlyA4WqRaSSWsAmE7pRnVy6qpBSLvOi5twxArQQ2XNau6DihQKmWl8iROi7N93m3wP0eMqd24aLDvYdiV0TLGKy641A-gVOimUVrt6Ot_6NqPYciNZCVpI6gSIqt3e2WCjzFg126D20C4zajdLbDdLzDDV4d043KD9p793VgGbw8AooG-y2M3Lh6dErVu1M692bvRrJyBG78NGOOxuPv_zh7A2q3tjp2uY_Lhfw38AalOyEo</addsrcrecordid><sourcetype>Aggregation Database</sourcetype><iscdi>true</iscdi><recordtype>article</recordtype><pqid>1040830633</pqid></control><display><type>article</type><title>Iterative Evolution of Increased Behavioral Variation Characterizes the Transition to Sociality in Spiders and Proves Advantageous</title><source>JSTOR Archival Journals and Primary Sources Collection</source><creator>Pruitt, Jonathan N. ; Oufiero, Christopher E. ; Avilés, Leticia ; Riechert, Susan E.</creator><contributor>J. Albert C. Uy ; Judith L. Bronstein</contributor><creatorcontrib>Pruitt, Jonathan N. ; Oufiero, Christopher E. ; Avilés, Leticia ; Riechert, Susan E. ; J. Albert C. Uy ; Judith L. Bronstein</creatorcontrib><description>The evolution of group living is regarded as a major evolutionary transition and is commonly met with correlated shifts in ancillary characters. We tested for associations between social tendency and a myriad of abiotic variables (e.g., temperature and precipitation) and behavioral traits (e.g., boldness, activity level, and aggression) in a clade of spiders that exhibit highly variable social structures (genusAnelosimus). We found that, relative to their subsocial relatives, social species tended to exhibit reduced aggressiveness toward prey, increased fearfulness toward predators, and reduced activity levels, and they tended to occur in warm, wet habitats with low average wind velocities. Within-species variation in aggressiveness and boldness was also positively associated with sociality. We then assessed the functional consequences of within-species trait variation on reconstituted colonies of four test species (Anelosimus eximius,Anelosimus rupununi,Anelosimus guacamayos, andAnelosimus oritoyacu). We used colonies consisting of known ratios of docile versus aggressive individuals and group foraging success as a measure of colony performance. In all four test species, we found that groups composed of a mixture of docile and aggressive individuals outperformed monotypic groups. Mixed groups were more effective at subduing medium and large prey, and mixed groups collectively gained more mass during shared feeding events. Our results suggest that the iterative evolution of depressed aggressiveness and increased within-species behavioral variation in social spiders is advantageous and could be an adaptation to group living that is analogous to the formation of morphological castes within the social insects.</description><identifier>ISSN: 0003-0147</identifier><identifier>EISSN: 1537-5323</identifier><identifier>DOI: 10.1086/667576</identifier><identifier>PMID: 22976012</identifier><identifier>CODEN: AMNTA4</identifier><language>eng</language><publisher>Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press</publisher><subject>Adaptability ; Aggression ; Anelosimus eximius ; Animal and plant ecology ; Animal behavior ; Animal, plant and microbial ecology ; Animals ; Arachnida ; Behavior, Animal ; Biological and medical sciences ; Biological Evolution ; Biological taxonomies ; Evolution ; Female ; Female animals ; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology ; General aspects ; Habitats ; Human aggression ; Insect colonies ; Invertebrates ; Morphology ; Nonnative species ; Personality traits ; Phenotypic traits ; Phylogenetics ; Phylogeny ; Social Behavior ; Sociality ; Spiders ; Spiders - classification ; Spiders - physiology</subject><ispartof>The American naturalist, 2012-10, Vol.180 (4), p.496-510</ispartof><rights>2012 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.</rights><rights>2015 INIST-CNRS</rights><rights>Copyright University of Chicago, acting through its Press Oct 2012</rights><lds50>peer_reviewed</lds50><woscitedreferencessubscribed>false</woscitedreferencessubscribed><citedby>FETCH-LOGICAL-c460t-eba32ede096463d6a3df69109b5873ee2ff24d81ee530c24715ffa0a004456003</citedby><cites>FETCH-LOGICAL-c460t-eba32ede096463d6a3df69109b5873ee2ff24d81ee530c24715ffa0a004456003</cites></display><links><openurl>$$Topenurl_article</openurl><openurlfulltext>$$Topenurlfull_article</openurlfulltext><thumbnail>$$Tsyndetics_thumb_exl</thumbnail><link.rule.ids>314,780,784,27924,27925</link.rule.ids><backlink>$$Uhttp://pascal-francis.inist.fr/vibad/index.php?action=getRecordDetail&amp;idt=26379862$$DView record in Pascal Francis$$Hfree_for_read</backlink><backlink>$$Uhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22976012$$D View this record in MEDLINE/PubMed$$Hfree_for_read</backlink></links><search><contributor>J. Albert C. Uy</contributor><contributor>Judith L. Bronstein</contributor><creatorcontrib>Pruitt, Jonathan N.</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Oufiero, Christopher E.</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Avilés, Leticia</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Riechert, Susan E.</creatorcontrib><title>Iterative Evolution of Increased Behavioral Variation Characterizes the Transition to Sociality in Spiders and Proves Advantageous</title><title>The American naturalist</title><addtitle>Am Nat</addtitle><description>The evolution of group living is regarded as a major evolutionary transition and is commonly met with correlated shifts in ancillary characters. We tested for associations between social tendency and a myriad of abiotic variables (e.g., temperature and precipitation) and behavioral traits (e.g., boldness, activity level, and aggression) in a clade of spiders that exhibit highly variable social structures (genusAnelosimus). We found that, relative to their subsocial relatives, social species tended to exhibit reduced aggressiveness toward prey, increased fearfulness toward predators, and reduced activity levels, and they tended to occur in warm, wet habitats with low average wind velocities. Within-species variation in aggressiveness and boldness was also positively associated with sociality. We then assessed the functional consequences of within-species trait variation on reconstituted colonies of four test species (Anelosimus eximius,Anelosimus rupununi,Anelosimus guacamayos, andAnelosimus oritoyacu). We used colonies consisting of known ratios of docile versus aggressive individuals and group foraging success as a measure of colony performance. In all four test species, we found that groups composed of a mixture of docile and aggressive individuals outperformed monotypic groups. Mixed groups were more effective at subduing medium and large prey, and mixed groups collectively gained more mass during shared feeding events. Our results suggest that the iterative evolution of depressed aggressiveness and increased within-species behavioral variation in social spiders is advantageous and could be an adaptation to group living that is analogous to the formation of morphological castes within the social insects.</description><subject>Adaptability</subject><subject>Aggression</subject><subject>Anelosimus eximius</subject><subject>Animal and plant ecology</subject><subject>Animal behavior</subject><subject>Animal, plant and microbial ecology</subject><subject>Animals</subject><subject>Arachnida</subject><subject>Behavior, Animal</subject><subject>Biological and medical sciences</subject><subject>Biological Evolution</subject><subject>Biological taxonomies</subject><subject>Evolution</subject><subject>Female</subject><subject>Female animals</subject><subject>Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology</subject><subject>General aspects</subject><subject>Habitats</subject><subject>Human aggression</subject><subject>Insect colonies</subject><subject>Invertebrates</subject><subject>Morphology</subject><subject>Nonnative species</subject><subject>Personality traits</subject><subject>Phenotypic traits</subject><subject>Phylogenetics</subject><subject>Phylogeny</subject><subject>Social Behavior</subject><subject>Sociality</subject><subject>Spiders</subject><subject>Spiders - classification</subject><subject>Spiders - physiology</subject><issn>0003-0147</issn><issn>1537-5323</issn><fulltext>true</fulltext><rsrctype>article</rsrctype><creationdate>2012</creationdate><recordtype>article</recordtype><recordid>eNqN0VtrFDEUAOBBFLtW_QkS8EJfRnObzOSxLlUXCgqtvg5nkzPdLLOTNckM1Ed_udnu2gVB6FMI-c7JuRTFS0bfM9qoD0rVVa0eFTNWibqsBBePixmlVJSUyfqkeBbjOl-11NXT4oRzXSvK-Kz4vUgYILkJycXk-zE5PxDfkcVgAkJESz7iCibnA_TkBwQHd2K-ggAmh7pfGElaIbkOMER395g8ufLGQe_SLXEDudo6iyESGCz5FvyUI87tBEOCG_RjfF486aCP-OJwnhbfP11cz7-Ul18_L-bnl6WRiqYSlyA4WqRaSSWsAmE7pRnVy6qpBSLvOi5twxArQQ2XNau6DihQKmWl8iROi7N93m3wP0eMqd24aLDvYdiV0TLGKy641A-gVOimUVrt6Ot_6NqPYciNZCVpI6gSIqt3e2WCjzFg126D20C4zajdLbDdLzDDV4d043KD9p793VgGbw8AooG-y2M3Lh6dErVu1M692bvRrJyBG78NGOOxuPv_zh7A2q3tjp2uY_Lhfw38AalOyEo</recordid><startdate>20121001</startdate><enddate>20121001</enddate><creator>Pruitt, Jonathan N.</creator><creator>Oufiero, Christopher E.</creator><creator>Avilés, Leticia</creator><creator>Riechert, Susan E.</creator><general>University of Chicago Press</general><general>University of Chicago, acting through its Press</general><scope>IQODW</scope><scope>CGR</scope><scope>CUY</scope><scope>CVF</scope><scope>ECM</scope><scope>EIF</scope><scope>NPM</scope><scope>AAYXX</scope><scope>CITATION</scope><scope>7QG</scope><scope>7SN</scope><scope>7SS</scope><scope>7ST</scope><scope>8FD</scope><scope>C1K</scope><scope>FR3</scope><scope>P64</scope><scope>RC3</scope><scope>SOI</scope><scope>7X8</scope><scope>7U6</scope></search><sort><creationdate>20121001</creationdate><title>Iterative Evolution of Increased Behavioral Variation Characterizes the Transition to Sociality in Spiders and Proves Advantageous</title><author>Pruitt, Jonathan N. ; Oufiero, Christopher E. ; Avilés, Leticia ; Riechert, Susan E.</author></sort><facets><frbrtype>5</frbrtype><frbrgroupid>cdi_FETCH-LOGICAL-c460t-eba32ede096463d6a3df69109b5873ee2ff24d81ee530c24715ffa0a004456003</frbrgroupid><rsrctype>articles</rsrctype><prefilter>articles</prefilter><language>eng</language><creationdate>2012</creationdate><topic>Adaptability</topic><topic>Aggression</topic><topic>Anelosimus eximius</topic><topic>Animal and plant ecology</topic><topic>Animal behavior</topic><topic>Animal, plant and microbial ecology</topic><topic>Animals</topic><topic>Arachnida</topic><topic>Behavior, Animal</topic><topic>Biological and medical sciences</topic><topic>Biological Evolution</topic><topic>Biological taxonomies</topic><topic>Evolution</topic><topic>Female</topic><topic>Female animals</topic><topic>Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology</topic><topic>General aspects</topic><topic>Habitats</topic><topic>Human aggression</topic><topic>Insect colonies</topic><topic>Invertebrates</topic><topic>Morphology</topic><topic>Nonnative species</topic><topic>Personality traits</topic><topic>Phenotypic traits</topic><topic>Phylogenetics</topic><topic>Phylogeny</topic><topic>Social Behavior</topic><topic>Sociality</topic><topic>Spiders</topic><topic>Spiders - classification</topic><topic>Spiders - physiology</topic><toplevel>peer_reviewed</toplevel><toplevel>online_resources</toplevel><creatorcontrib>Pruitt, Jonathan N.</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Oufiero, Christopher E.</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Avilés, Leticia</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Riechert, Susan E.</creatorcontrib><collection>Pascal-Francis</collection><collection>Medline</collection><collection>MEDLINE</collection><collection>MEDLINE (Ovid)</collection><collection>MEDLINE</collection><collection>MEDLINE</collection><collection>PubMed</collection><collection>CrossRef</collection><collection>Animal Behavior Abstracts</collection><collection>Ecology Abstracts</collection><collection>Entomology Abstracts (Full archive)</collection><collection>Environment Abstracts</collection><collection>Technology Research Database</collection><collection>Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management</collection><collection>Engineering Research Database</collection><collection>Biotechnology and BioEngineering Abstracts</collection><collection>Genetics Abstracts</collection><collection>Environment Abstracts</collection><collection>MEDLINE - Academic</collection><collection>Sustainability Science Abstracts</collection><jtitle>The American naturalist</jtitle></facets><delivery><delcategory>Remote Search Resource</delcategory><fulltext>fulltext</fulltext></delivery><addata><au>Pruitt, Jonathan N.</au><au>Oufiero, Christopher E.</au><au>Avilés, Leticia</au><au>Riechert, Susan E.</au><au>J. Albert C. Uy</au><au>Judith L. Bronstein</au><format>journal</format><genre>article</genre><ristype>JOUR</ristype><atitle>Iterative Evolution of Increased Behavioral Variation Characterizes the Transition to Sociality in Spiders and Proves Advantageous</atitle><jtitle>The American naturalist</jtitle><addtitle>Am Nat</addtitle><date>2012-10-01</date><risdate>2012</risdate><volume>180</volume><issue>4</issue><spage>496</spage><epage>510</epage><pages>496-510</pages><issn>0003-0147</issn><eissn>1537-5323</eissn><coden>AMNTA4</coden><abstract>The evolution of group living is regarded as a major evolutionary transition and is commonly met with correlated shifts in ancillary characters. We tested for associations between social tendency and a myriad of abiotic variables (e.g., temperature and precipitation) and behavioral traits (e.g., boldness, activity level, and aggression) in a clade of spiders that exhibit highly variable social structures (genusAnelosimus). We found that, relative to their subsocial relatives, social species tended to exhibit reduced aggressiveness toward prey, increased fearfulness toward predators, and reduced activity levels, and they tended to occur in warm, wet habitats with low average wind velocities. Within-species variation in aggressiveness and boldness was also positively associated with sociality. We then assessed the functional consequences of within-species trait variation on reconstituted colonies of four test species (Anelosimus eximius,Anelosimus rupununi,Anelosimus guacamayos, andAnelosimus oritoyacu). We used colonies consisting of known ratios of docile versus aggressive individuals and group foraging success as a measure of colony performance. In all four test species, we found that groups composed of a mixture of docile and aggressive individuals outperformed monotypic groups. Mixed groups were more effective at subduing medium and large prey, and mixed groups collectively gained more mass during shared feeding events. Our results suggest that the iterative evolution of depressed aggressiveness and increased within-species behavioral variation in social spiders is advantageous and could be an adaptation to group living that is analogous to the formation of morphological castes within the social insects.</abstract><cop>Chicago, IL</cop><pub>University of Chicago Press</pub><pmid>22976012</pmid><doi>10.1086/667576</doi><tpages>15</tpages></addata></record>
fulltext fulltext
identifier ISSN: 0003-0147
ispartof The American naturalist, 2012-10, Vol.180 (4), p.496-510
issn 0003-0147
1537-5323
language eng
recordid cdi_pubmed_primary_22976012
source JSTOR Archival Journals and Primary Sources Collection
subjects Adaptability
Aggression
Anelosimus eximius
Animal and plant ecology
Animal behavior
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Animals
Arachnida
Behavior, Animal
Biological and medical sciences
Biological Evolution
Biological taxonomies
Evolution
Female
Female animals
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General aspects
Habitats
Human aggression
Insect colonies
Invertebrates
Morphology
Nonnative species
Personality traits
Phenotypic traits
Phylogenetics
Phylogeny
Social Behavior
Sociality
Spiders
Spiders - classification
Spiders - physiology
title Iterative Evolution of Increased Behavioral Variation Characterizes the Transition to Sociality in Spiders and Proves Advantageous
url http://sfxeu10.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/loughborough?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info:ofi/enc:UTF-8&ctx_tim=2025-01-02T18%3A22%3A55IST&url_ver=Z39.88-2004&url_ctx_fmt=infofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rfr_id=info:sid/primo.exlibrisgroup.com:primo3-Article-jstor_pubme&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=Iterative%20Evolution%20of%20Increased%20Behavioral%20Variation%20Characterizes%20the%20Transition%20to%20Sociality%20in%20Spiders%20and%20Proves%20Advantageous&rft.jtitle=The%20American%20naturalist&rft.au=Pruitt,%20Jonathan%20N.&rft.date=2012-10-01&rft.volume=180&rft.issue=4&rft.spage=496&rft.epage=510&rft.pages=496-510&rft.issn=0003-0147&rft.eissn=1537-5323&rft.coden=AMNTA4&rft_id=info:doi/10.1086/667576&rft_dat=%3Cjstor_pubme%3E10.1086/667576%3C/jstor_pubme%3E%3Cgrp_id%3Ecdi_FETCH-LOGICAL-c460t-eba32ede096463d6a3df69109b5873ee2ff24d81ee530c24715ffa0a004456003%3C/grp_id%3E%3Coa%3E%3C/oa%3E%3Curl%3E%3C/url%3E&rft_id=info:oai/&rft_pqid=1040830633&rft_id=info:pmid/22976012&rft_jstor_id=10.1086/667576&rfr_iscdi=true