Spiders play an important role in stabilizing or regulating insect populations; they are one of the most numerous insectivores and exhibit a wide variety of lifestyles and foraging strategies (Nyffeler et al., 1994; Nyffeler and Benz, 1987; Wise, 1993). Spiders possess the characteristics of predators that can contribute to density-independent limitation of prey, including self-damping, high levels of polyphagy, and life cycles that are asynchronous to those of prey species (Riechert and Bishop, 1990).
展开▼
