Direct observations of foraging wolf spiders and dunnarts
The lesser hairy-footed dunnart (<i>Sminthopsis youngsoni, Dasyuridae</i>) is a generalist marsupial insectivore in arid Australia, but consumes wolf spiders (<i>Lycosa spp., Lycosidae</i>) disproportionately often relative to their availability. This project tested the hypothesis that this disproportionate predation is a product of frequent encounter rates between the interactants due to high overlap in their diets and use of space and time. This data set focuses on dietary overlap, with diet and predatory behaviour of wolf spiders (<i>Lycosa spp.</i>), the lesser hairy-footed dunnart (<i>Sminthopsis youngsoni</i>) and prowling spiders (<i>Miturga spp.</i>, which represent other common invertebrate predators) were determined by tracking individuals and directly observing prey captures. Seventeen wolf spiders, 10 prowling spiders and 5 dunnarts were captured from Main Camp site in the Simpson Desert, south-western Queensland during 2016 with 30, 13 and 13 direct prey captures witnessed for each species respectively. This data is used for calculating overlap between prey taxa and prey size between these predators using the symmetrical version of MacArthur and Levin's and Pianka's overlap equation. However, it can also be used as a case study for calculating overlap between other species-groups.
Simple
Identification info
- Date (Creation)
- 2016-04-01
- Date (Publication)
- 2017-11-22
- Date (Revision)
- 2024-05-12
- Edition
- 1
Identifier
Publisher
Author
University of Adelaide - Potter, Tamara ()
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
University of Sydney - Greenville, Aaron ()
City Road, Camperdown, New South Wales, 2050, Australia
Camperdown
New South Wales
2050
Australia
Co-author
University of Sydney - Dickman, Chris (Professor in Terrestrial Ecology)
City Road, Camperdown, New South Wales, 2050, Australia
Camperdown
New South Wales
2050
Australia
- Website
- https://www.tern.org.au/
- Purpose
- The lesser hairy-footed dunnart (<i>Sminthopsis youngsoni</i>) is a common generalist insectivore in arid Australia that consumes wolf spiders (<i>Lycosa spp.</i>) disproportionately often relative to their availability. This study aimed to uncover the underlying mechanisms that drive this observed pattern of selective predation.
- Credit
- We at TERN acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians throughout Australia, New Zealand and all nations. We honour their profound connections to land, water, biodiversity and culture and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
- Status
- Completed
Point of contact
University of Adelaide - Potter, Tamara ()
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite Road
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
- Topic category
-
- Biota
Extent
- Description
- The area around Main Camp, Ethabuka Reserve, north-eastern Simpson Desert, Queensland IBRA region: Simpson desert; Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields
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S
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Temporal extent
- Time period
- 2016-04-01 2016-10-23
- Maintenance and update frequency
- Not planned
- GCMD Science Keywords
- ANZSRC Fields of Research
- TERN Parameter Vocabulary
- QUDT Units of Measure
- GCMD Horizontal Resolution Ranges
- GCMD Temporal Resolution Ranges
- Keywords (Discipline)
-
- Dasyuridae
- Marsupials
- Spiders
- Arid ecology
- Predator-Prey Interactions
Resource constraints
- Use limitation
- The Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license allows others to copy, distribute, display, and create derivative works provided that they credit the original source and any other nominated parties. Details are provided at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
- File name
- 88x31.png
- File description
- CCBy Logo from creativecommons.org
- File type
- png
- Title
- Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
- Alternate title
- CC-BY
- Edition
- 4.0
- Access constraints
- License
- Use constraints
- Other restrictions
- Other constraints
- TERN services are provided on an "as-is" and "as available" basis. Users use any TERN services at their discretion and risk. They will be solely responsible for any damage or loss whatsoever that results from such use including use of any data obtained through TERN and any analysis performed using the TERN infrastructure. <br />Web links to and from external, third party websites should not be construed as implying any relationships with and/or endorsement of the external site or its content by TERN. <br /><br />Please advise any work or publications that use this data via the online form at https://www.tern.org.au/research-publications/#reporting
- Other constraints
- Please cite this dataset as {Author} ({PublicationYear}). {Title}. {Version, as appropriate}. Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network. Dataset. {Identifier}.
- Other constraints
- (C)2017 University of Sydney. Rights owned by University of Sydney.
Resource constraints
- Classification
- Unclassified
Distribution Information
Distribution Information
Distribution Information
Distribution Information
Distributor
Distributor
Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network
Building 1019, 80 Meiers Rd, Indooroopilly, QLD, Australia, 4068
Indooroopilly
QLD
4068
Australia
- Distribution format
-
- OnLine resource
- ro-crate-metadata.json
Resource lineage
- Statement
- Direct Observations: [1] Animal Trapping Individual <i>S.youngsoni</i> were live-captured in pitfall traps on 16 trapping grids located 0.62 km apart at Main Camp during July and October 2016. Each grid comprised 36 pitfall traps in a 6 × 6 formation with traps set 20 m apart. Grids encompassed all dune zones (crest, side and swale) and covered 1 ha. A trap consisted of a PVC pipe 60 cm deep × 16 cm diameter, dug flush with the sand surface and overlain by a 5 m long, 300 mm high drift fence of aluminium flywire to increase trapping efficiency. Captured individuals were identified, weighed, sexed and reproductive status checked, and then given a unique ear clip. Lycosid and miturgid spiders were collected opportunistically from vertebrate pitfall traps (see above) or through active searches over multiple nights at Main Camp. [2] Observations of Prey Capture Captured <i>S.youngsoni</i> were released and followed to directly observe their prey selection. After dusk, a small non-toxic glow stick, 4.5 mm diameter × 39 mm long (Neptune Tackle, Adelaide, South Australia) was activated before being secured to the hair of a dunnart from the nape down the back using non-toxic cyanoacrylate glue (Selley's Quick Fix superglue) and positioned so as not to impede head or leg movement. Distance of the observer to the dunnart varied depending on the microhabitats encountered, the speed of the dunnart, and the activity the dunnart was engaged in. Red light was used to illuminate dunnarts when foraging to facilitate identification of selected prey, minimise disturbance to their natural foraging behaviour, and to preserve each observer's night vision. Numbers, type and size of prey eaten were recorded, as well as time of night and method of prey capture. To quantify foraging and prey selection by lycosid and miturgid spiders, we scored the type and size of all prey items depredated during observations. Prior to release, a 3 × 3 mm square of silver reflective tape (Class 1 reflectivity, Seton Australia) was attached to the opisthosoma using non-toxic cyanoacrylate glue to increase the detectability of spiders when tracking them in low light conditions. Spiders were released near their capture site between 20:00 h and 23:00 h around Main Camp, and followed and observed for ~1 h under red torchlight at a distance of 3 m to minimise disturbance.
- Hierarchy level
- Dataset
Reference System Information
- Reference system identifier
- EPSG/EPSG:3577
- Reference system type
- Geodetic Geographic 2D
Metadata
- Metadata identifier
-
urn:uuid/213099ca-e687-414f-a105-6241ed5128f8
- Title
- TERN GeoNetwork UUID
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
Point of contact
Type of resource
- Resource scope
- Dataset
- Metadata linkage
-
https://geonetwork.tern.org.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/213099ca-e687-414f-a105-6241ed5128f8
Point-of-truth metadata URL
- Date info (Creation)
- 2022-10-26T00:00:00
- Date info (Revision)
- 2024-05-12T00:00:00
Metadata standard
- Title
- ISO 19115-1:2014/AMD 1:2018 Geographic information - Metadata - Fundamentals
- Edition
- 1
Metadata standard
- Title
- ISO/TS 19115-3:2016
- Edition
- 1.0
Metadata standard
- Title
- ISO/TS 19157-2:2016
- Edition
- 1.0
- Title
- Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-3:2016 and ISO 19157-2:2016
- Date (published)
- 2021
- Edition
- 1.0
Identifier
Overviews
Spatial extent
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S
E
W
Provided by
Associated resources
Not available