Why be social? The costs and benefits of sociality in spiders

The purpose of this experiment is to determine if kleptoparasitic spiders and parasitoid wasps have an effect on fitness at both the colony and the individual levels.

• Locate up to 45 Anelosimus eximius nests
• Randomly assign nests to one of 3 treatments: no parasites, normal level of parasites and higher than normal level of parasites
• Surround nests of all three treatments in fine netting to prevent anything from entering or leaving the nest
• Collect sample of adult females and assess body condition
• For nests assigned to the no parasites treatment, remove all kleptoparasitic spiders and parasitoid wasp cocoon webs
• For nests assigned to have higher than normal levels of parasites, introduce extra kleptoparasitic spiders and introduce parasitoid wasp adults
• Feed spiders the appropriate amount of daily food for its size based on Yip et al. (2008) and results from prey energy input experiments from summer of 2016
• After 4-6 months, all existing egg sacs will be from experimental period, collect egg sacs from all nests. Count number of eggs and presence clutch parasites
• Count number of cocoon webs made by spiders infected with parasitoid wasp larvae
• Collect another sample of adult females and reassess body condition
• Collect samples of entire nests from all three treatments. Count any parasitoid wasp larvae attached to carapace of spiders