Influence of nutritional status on social interactions in solitary spiderlings
Résumé
In arthropods, nutrition has so far mostly been addressed from the perspective of individual animals but an increasing number of studies focus on the influence of nutritional state on the regulation of social interactions. The influence of variations in nutritional supply on social cohesion is particularly crucial in species showing transient gregariousness, such as spiders. While a solitary lifestyle characterizes the vast majority of species at adulthood, all spider species undergo a transient gregarious phase during the early stages of development. Our project aimed at examining the link between food supply and nutritional status on the nature of social interactions in gregarious spiderlings of the solitary spider Agelena labyrinthica. In our experiments, spiderlings were reared under diets differing in prey quantities. At three different development stages (i.e. instars), pairs of spiderlings were introduced into a circular arena to quantify their interactions. After the completion of behavioural assays, spiderlings were sacrificed to dose lipid stores and characterise their cuticular profiles. Our results suggest a decoupling between the nutritional state and the maintenance of tolerant social behaviours.