Cuticular bacteria appear detrimental to social spiders in mixed but not monoculture exposure.

ABSTRACT: Much of an animal's health status, life history, and behavior are dictated by interactions with its endogenous and exogenous bacterial communities. Unfortunately, interactions between hosts and members of their resident bacterial community are often ignored in animal behavior and behavioral ecology. Here, we aim to identify the nature of host-microbe interactions in a nonmodel organism, the African social spider Stegodyphus dumicola. We collected and identified bacteria from the cuticles of spiders in situ and then exposed spiders to bacterial monocultures cultures via topical application or injection. We also topically inoculated spiders with a concomitant "cocktail" of bacteria and measured the behavior of spiders daily for 24 days after inoculation. Lastly, we collected an

SUBMITTER: Keiser CN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5829440 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature