Spider foraging strategy affects trophic cascades under natural and drought conditions.

ABSTRACT: Spiders can cause trophic cascades affecting litter decomposition rates. However, it remains unclear how spiders with different foraging strategies influence faunal communities, or present cascading effects on decomposition. Furthermore, increased dry periods predicted in future climates will likely have important consequences for trophic interactions in detritus-based food webs. We investigated independent and interactive effects of spider predation and drought on litter decomposition in a tropical forest floor. We manipulated densities of dominant spiders with actively hunting or sit-and-wait foraging strategies in microcosms which mimicked the tropical-forest floor. We found a positive trophic cascade on litter decomposition was triggered by actively hunting spiders under ambient rainfa

SUBMITTER: Liu S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4511865 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature