Exploring resource patch occupancy: patch size, but not connectivity, explains the abundance of spider kleptoparasites in golden orb webs

The ideal free distribution (IFD) theory predicts that individuals are free to move among habitat patches and distribute among them “ideally,” in order to maximize individual evolutionary fitness. Size and quality of habitat patches then should directly impact the number of individuals occupying them, and connectivity of habitat patches likely plays a role if dispersal is limited. However, habitat patches can be distributed so that movement no longer can be considered free, for example, when patches are isolated. Challenges stemming from patch delimitation and detection rate of occupants further complicate efforts attempting to resolve such patterns. Here, we utilize as habitat patches the orb webs of four different populations belonging to three golden orb weaver spider species, Nephila pilipes (Fabricius, 1793), Nephilingis livida (Vinson, 1863), and Trichonephila clavipes (Linnaeus, 1767), and the obligate spider kleptoparasites (Argyrodinae, Theridiidae) that are associated with their webs. We examine how the IFD predicts the abundance of kleptoparasites under different patterns of patch size and distribution. We found that larger host webs, that is, habitat patches that contain more resources, are occupied by a higher number of kleptoparasitic spiders, regardless of their degree of isolation. Although the free movement prediction is often violated in natural systems, we find no evidence for habitat patch connectivity affecting the abundance of kleptoparasites, indicating that their dispersal ability facilitates the location and colonization of habitat patches regardless of their isolation. Therefore, our results support the interaction between argyrodine kleptoparasitic spiders and the webs of golden orb weavers to be a suitable natural system for studying the IFD.