The ecological consequences of temperament in spiders

Abstract

Ecological and evolutionary studies on spiders have been featured prominently throughout the contemporary behavio­ral syndromes movement. Here we review the behavioral syndromes literature devoted to spiders, and identify some ways in which behavioral syndromes can impact the function of spiders in ecological communities. We further highlight three general themes within the behavioral syndromes literature for which spiders have served as front running model systems: (1) how trait correlations beget performance trade-offs, (2) the influence that behavioral trait variants have on interspecific interactions and (3) mechanisms that aid in maintaining behavioral variation within- and among-populations. Research on behavioral syndromes continues to grow at an impressive rate, and we feel the success of behavioral syndromes studies in spiders bodes well for their continued prominence [Current Zoology 58 (4): 589–596, 2012].

Keywords

• Animal personality
• Behavioral type
• Behavioral syndrome
• Social insects
• Social spider