The feeding pattern of spiders reveal a lot about their metabolism, locomotive behavior, predatory instincts, and ecological impact on surrounding biomass. Long-term starvation affects all of these variables to different extent in different species. However, it is not well-understood how short-term starvation may affect spiders’ feeding behavior and movement. In this proposal, we aim to assess the impact of short-term starvation on feeding behavior and movement of cellar spiders and wolf spiders, under various environmental stressors and in presence of competition. Spiders (n=3) will be placed in individual clear containers and starved for either a 3-day or 7-day period, and their behavior will be contrasted with their satiated counterparts. To understand the combined effect of environmental stressors and food deprivation, some cellar spiders will be placed in cold (18 C) or hot (30 C) environments. The difference in feeding pattern between male and female wolf spiders after short-term starvation will be recorded. And, to assess the impact of competition after starvation, multiple cellar spiders will receive a limited amount of food. All data should be collected in a qualitative manner, outside of feeding rate and mortality of spiders ,and will be analyzed in comparison to the control group of not-starved spiders. Understanding the impact of short-term starvation on spiders’ predatory and locomotive behavior will broaden our knowledge of their metabolic activities and will help us better utilize them for pest control.
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