Coadaptive changes in physiological and biophysical traits related to thermal stress in web spiders |
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Authors: | Naoko Kato Makoto Takasago Kenji Omasa Tadashi Miyashita |
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Institution: | (1) School of Agriculture and Life Sciences, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan |
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Abstract: | Web spiders are considered to have expanded their habitats from dim to bright environments during the evolutionary history.
Because they are sedentary predators exposed to the sun, they may have developed a suite of adaptive traits to cope with thermal
stress. We examined the critical thermal maximum, spectral reflectance of solar energy by the body surface, and surface–volume
ratio (SVR) for 11 spider species. Analysis of the four genera having a pair of species inhabiting both bright and dim environments
showed that species in bright environments exhibited higher lethal temperatures, but spectral reflectance and SVR did not
differ. Independent contrasts using the 11 species indicated that critical thermal maximum was positively correlated with
spectral reflectance and spectral reflectance was negatively correlated with SVR. These results suggest that physiological
tolerance to high temperatures and a biophysical mechanism to reduce heat gain evolved jointly during the history of habitat
expansion in araneoid spiders. |
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Keywords: | Lethal temperature Spectral reflectance Thermal adaptation Comparative method |
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