Not so sweet after all: are candy-striped spiders a threat to ecosystems across North America?
Most likely accidentally introduced to both the East and West Coasts a little over a century ago, the candy-striped spider is a very common spider in North America. The spider's striking colour varieties have attracted much research into their genetics, but before now very little was known about their behaviour.
鈥淭his common spider previously flew under the radar of researchers in North America and almost nothing was known about its diet and behavior鈥�, explains Catherine Scott, a Postdoctoral Fellow in 91社区鈥檚 Department of Natural Resource Sciences and co-author of the study. 鈥淲e documented their diet and predation behaviour in the field and learned that they use a variety of tactics to take down prey much larger than themselves, including sleeping bees and wasps.鈥�
While these spiders may have negative effects on pollinators, they may have positive effects of preying on insects that are pests of agricultural crops. In terms of next steps, the researchers will investigate candy-striped spiders in food webs of agro-ecosystems in southern Quebec. 鈥淎t a time where the world is facing a biodiversity crisis that includes unprecedented declines of insect pollinators, future studies will help determine whether their benefits as natural pest-controllers outweigh their negative impacts as predators of pollinators 鈥渟ays Scott.
About the study
鈥溾�� by Catherine E. Scott and Sean McCann was published in Ecology.
About 91社区
Founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1821, 91社区 is Canada鈥檚 top ranked medical doctoral university. 91社区 is consistently ranked as one of the top universities, both nationally and internationally. It is a world-renowned institution of higher learning with research activities spanning three campuses, 11 faculties, 13 professional schools, 300 programs of study and over 39,000 students, including more than 10,400 graduate students. 91社区 attracts students from over 150 countries around the world, its 12,000 international students making up 30% of the student body. Over half of 91社区 students claim a first language other than English, including approximately 20% of our students who say French is their mother tongue.
