1. Haunted Territory
A niche is defined as the role of an organism in an ecological community. The goal of this experiment was to investigate six genuses of spiders and how they have developed niche partitioning in order to survive in their community. This was done by observing and collecting data in regards to how each spider specialized in web structure, specifically radius, area, number of rows and mesh style. Further, web placement , specifically height; and orientation, specifically, whether it was a north/south or east/west web and horizontal versus vertical. My hypothesis is that the spiders will utilize niche partitioning by the placement and structure of webs. This is reasonable as it is logical that the placement of webs in various locations would result in the reduce competition for resource. This then follows that the differential structures would allow the spiders to capture different prey and again reduce competition for food.
Materials and Methods.
The study was conducted at the Delaware Dam State Wildlife Area. Six genuses of spiders of the family Araneidae were identified to be located. Argiope, Neoscona, Tetragnatha, Leucauge, Cyclosa, and Araneus.
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Argiope Neoscona Tetragnatha Leucauge Cyclosa Araneus .
We went into the woods and fields in search of webs. Once located, we determined the species of the spider from an identification sheet. To provide data regarding the web, we measured the height of the web by using a meter stick to calculate the distance from the ground to the web center. Next, we measured the radius of the web with the meter stick with the standard being from the center of the web to the outermost rim. We then counted the number of rows of the web. We next looked at the prey and counted the amount and type of prey that was in the web. We then measured the body size of the spider and prey utilizing a caliper. We marked the webs that had been counted in order not to duplicate our findings.
For example, The Dysdera crocata is a spider found in New Zealand gardens which preys on Slaters exclusively[1]. 1.2.2 Habitat Temperature Slaters are known to live in cool conditions. ... These include Ground Beetles, Spiders, Earwigs and Earthworms. ... Ground Beetles are known to prey on the Slater, along with spiders such as the Dysdera crocata which is common in many New Zealand gardens, therefore their relationship with the Slaters could be one of predation as they benefit from the relationship, gaining food for growth and other life processes whilst the slater is harmed by the relati...
Supply and demand is the basic economic concept students learn about in school. Remember the teacher drawing supply and demand graphs on the chalk board? Well, if you happened to fall asleep during class, all you really need to know is that supply and demand are intertwined and the concept is rooted...
"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown."1 Therefore, it makes sense that if mortals cannot bear the darkness, they [should not] not go there. If man dislikes "black night and yawning chasms,"2 then should he not even consider them? Shouldn't man seek out the sunshine, instead? The remedy is very simple: Avoid the darkness and seek the light. But, no. ...