All animals require meals to outlive, develop, reproduce, and thus optimize health in nature. Meals availability can profoundly have an effect on demographic parameters corresponding to longevity and fecundity. Right here, we in contrast reproductive parameters within the false widow spider, Steatoda grossa (Araneae, Theridiidae), when the provision and dimension of prey (the home cricket, Acheta domesticus) had been manipulated. Grownup mated feminine spiders that had been fed weekly (fixed prey therapy) produced extra progeny throughout their lifetime than females fed each 3 weeks (intermittent prey therapy). Moreover, the monitoring of fecundity schedules confirmed that over the primary 10 egg sacs, the imply variety of neonate spiderlings per egg sac was round 40% increased in continually fed than intermittently fed spiders. Time intervals between egg sac productions had been usually increased when prey availability was decrease. Some females misplaced greater than 50% of their physique mass after the manufacturing of the primary egg sac, though reproductive funding tended to lower thereafter. The quantity of prey supplied to females considerably affected mass acquire between reproductive occasions, however fewer progeny had been produced by females per egg sac, in addition to cumulatively over the primary three egg sacs, once they had been solely fed small prey. Starved females that had not produced egg sacs in a number of months exhibited complete reproductive restoration when fed. Our outcomes show the significance of prey attributes on S. grossa copy. Moreover, females make investments remarkably giant quantities of sources throughout every reproductive cycle and over the course of a lifetime.
Dong, Y., Gols, R. & Harvey, J.A. Meals availability influences grownup physique mass variability and reproductive traits in a spider. Oecologia 207, 179 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-025-05818-w
