Spider Foraging Strategies Dominate Pest Suppression in Organic Tea Plantations

Spider foraging strategies dominate pest suppression in organic tea plantations

Yellow sticky trap sample / Sweep net sample
April / June / August / November / April / June / August / November
Tea plantation 1 / 15.92 ± 0.82aB / 29.21 ± 1.40bA / 9.80 ± 0.99aC / 18.83 ± 1.28aB / 8.03 ± 1.42aB / 13.27 ± 1.63bAB / 2.47 ± 0.52aC / 16.15 ± 1.86aA
Tea plantation 2 / 4.42 ± 0.48bB / 25.30 ± 1.48bA / 7.92 ± 1.38abB / 4.62 ± 0.27bB / 1.70 ± 0.33bC / 20.70 ± 2.65bA / 1.35 ± 0.32aC / 5.30 ± 0.86bB
Tea plantation 3 / 4.92 ± 0.51bB / 55.64 ± 3.11aA / 4.30 ± 0.48bB / 2.00 ± 0.15cC / 2.00 ± 0.60bC / 66.30 ± 8.45aA / 2.10 ± 0.48aC / 13.07 ± 1.72aB

Table S1.Comparison of mean number of leafhopper, E. vitis, per sample in the four sampling period at three tea plantations(mean ±SE, n = 20).

Different capital letters in a row indicate significant difference between months with the same sampling method at the same tea plantation. Different small letters within the same column indicate a significant difference between three tea plantations at the same month (P< 0.05).

Table S2.List of spider morphospecies withthe resulting foraging strategy among three organic tea plantations.

Tea plantation 1 / Tea plantation 2 / Tea plantation 2 / Family / Foraging strategy
Site1 / Site2 / Site3 / Total / Site1 / Site2 / Total / Site1 / Site2 / Site3 / Total
Sp.1 / 21 / 64 / 32 / 117 / 4 / 2 / 6 / 5 / 0 / 1 / 6 / Agelenidae / SW
Sp.2 / 2 / 12 / 4 / 18 / 2 / 2 / 4 / 1 / 4 / 0 / 5 / Salticidae / AH
Sp.3 / 12 / 13 / 12 / 37 / 16 / 2 / 18 / 1 / 0 / 1 / 1 / Salticidae / AH
Sp.4 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 7 / 1 / 8 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / Tetragnathidae / SW
Sp.5 / 18 / 10 / 5 / 34 / 8 / 5 / 13 / 0 / 6 / 1 / 7 / Agelenidae / SW
Sp.6 / 16 / 43 / 12 / 71 / 1 / 4 / 5 / 1 / 1 / 0 / 2 / Linyphiidae / SW
Sp.7 / 10 / 14 / 4 / 28 / 2 / 0 / 2 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / Oxyopidae / AH
Sp.8 / 2 / 1 / 2 / 5 / 0 / 1 / 1 / 2 / 0 / 0 / 2 / Theridiidae / SW
Sp.9 / 7 / 10 / 2 / 19 / 0 / 1 / 1 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 1 / Tetragnathidae / SW
Sp.10 / 2 / 3 / 1 / 6 / 16 / 15 / 31 / 179 / 29 / 52 / 260 / Theridiidae / SW
Sp.11 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 2 / 6 / 8 / 14 / 0 / 1 / 15 / Theridiidae / SW
Sp.12 / 2 / 3 / 1 / 6 / 2 / 3 / 5 / 18 / 0 / 3 / 21 / Theridiidae / SW
Sp.13 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 3 / 1 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 2 / 2 / Theridiidae / SW
Sp.14 / 1 / 0 / 1 / 2 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / Theridiidae / SW
Sp.15 / 2 / 0 / 3 / 5 / 3 / 0 / 3 / 0 / 2 / 0 / 2 / Sparassidae / AH
Sp.16 / 0 / 2 / 1 / 3 / 7 / 2 / 9 / 9 / 3 / 20 / 32 / Salticidae / AH
Sp.17 / 3 / 4 / 1 / 8 / 48 / 14 / 62 / 35 / 11 / 18 / 64 / Salticidae / AH
Sp.18 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 7 / 0 / 7 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / Thomisidae / AH
Sp.19 / 1 / 0 / 3 / 4 / 17 / 0 / 17 / 0 / 1 / 63 / 64 / Thomisidae / SW
Sp.20 / 113 / 1 / 1 / 115 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 8 / 0 / 8 / Theridiidae / SW
Sp.21 / 47 / 29 / 34 / 110 / 21 / 4 / 25 / 5 / 13 / 4 / 22 / Araneidae / SW
Sp.22 / 2 / 1 / 1 / 4 / 3 / 0 / 3 / 1 / 0 / 1 / 2 / Araneidae / SW
Sp.23 / 0 / 2 / 2 / 4 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / Salticidae / AH
Sp.24 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 3 / 1 / 5 / Tetragnathidae / SW
Sp.25 / 5 / 1 / 0 / 6 / 2 / 2 / 4 / 0 / 0 / 2 / 2 / Salticidae / AH
Sp.26 / 0 / 3 / 1 / 4 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 7 / 1 / 1 / 9 / Araneidae / SW
Sp.27 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 1 / Agelenidae / SW
Sp.28 / 1 / 6 / 3 / 10 / 10 / 15 / 25 / 0 / 5 / 1 / 6 / Linyphiidae / SW
Sp.29 / 0 / 3 / 0 / 3 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 1 / Oxyopidae / AH
Sp.30 / 2 / 13 / 9 / 24 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / Oxyopidae / AH
Sp.31 / 0 / 0 / 2 / 2 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 1 / Linyphiidae / SW
Sp.32 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 39 / 1 / 40 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / Linyphiidae / SW
Sp.33 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 30 / 1 / 31 / 1 / 20 / 3 / 24 / Thomisidae / AH
Sp.34 / 1 / 1 / 2 / 4 / 1 / 1 / 2 / 1 / 3 / 0 / 4 / Thomisidae / AH
Sp.35 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 1 / Agelenidae / SW
Sp.36 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 5 / 0 / 5 / 0 / 3 / 0 / 3 / Theridiidae / SW
Sp.37 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 9 / 0 / 10 / Linyphiidae / SW
Sp.38 / 2 / 2 / 0 / 4 / 10 / 0 / 10 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / Salticidae / AH
Sp.39 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 8 / 0 / 8 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / Linyphiidae / SW
Sp.40 / 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 0 / 3 / 3 / 0 / 2 / 0 / 2 / Theridiidae / SW
Sp.41 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 1 / Araneidae / SW
Sp.42 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 1 / Thomisidae / AH
Sp.43 / 1 / 0 / 1 / 2 / 4 / 0 / 4 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 1 / Theridiidae / SW
Sp.44 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 3 / 1 / 1 / 5 / Araneidae / SW
Sp.45 / 4 / 2 / 3 / 9 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 1 / Clubionidae / AH
Sp.46 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 5 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / Clubionidae / AH

AH = actively hunting spiders, SW = sit-and-wait spiders

Table S3.Comparisons of spider variables among three organic tea plantations in June (mean ± 1SE, n = 20).

Tea plantation / Site / Mean number of AH spider
(per beating tray sample) / Mean AH spider diversity (H’)
(per beating tray sample) / Mean number of SW spider
(per beating tray sample) / Mean SW spider diversity (H’)
(per beating tray sample) / Mean number of total spider
(per beating tray sample) / Mean total spider diversity (H’)
(per beating tray sample)
Tea plantation 1 / Site 1 / 4.30 ± 0.47 / 0.77 ± 0.09 / 3.21 ± 0.56 / 0.68 ± 0.11 / 7.58 ± 0.77 / 1.35 ± 0.10
Site 2 / 4.80 ± 0.50 / 1.02 ± 0.11 / 7.35 ± 0.92 / 0.88 ± 0.09 / 12.15 ± 1.18 / 1.60 ± 0.07
Site 3 / 3.75 ± 0.65 / 0.69 ± 0.13 / 2.75 ± 0.45 / 0.41 ± 0.10 / 6.50 ± 0.93 / 1.19 ± 0.12
Avg. / 4.28 ± 0.31a / 0.83 ± 0.07a / 4.46 ± 0.47a / 0.66 ± 0.06a / 8.76 ± 0.65a / 1.38 ± 0.06a
Tea plantation 2 / Site 1 / 7.15 ± 1.21 / 0.98 ± 0.12 / 6.40 ± 1.05 / 0.97 ± 0.12 / 13.55 ± 1.62 / 1.65 ± 0.12
Site 2 / 2.83 ± 0.36 / 0.48 ± 0.07 / 2.85 ± 0.50 / 0.46 ± 0.11 / 4.30 ± 0.78 / 0.82 ± 0.14
Avg. / 4.30 ± 0.77a / 0.58 ± 0.09ab / 4.63 ± 0.64a / 0.72 ± 0.09a / 8.93 ± 1.16a / 1.24 ± 0.11ab
Tea plantation 3 / Site 1 / 2.50 ± 0.43 / 0.32 ± 0.09 / 11.65 ± 2.13 / 0.59 ± 0.08 / 14.15 ± 2.19 / 0.99 ± 0.09
Site 2 / 2.85 ± 0.50 / 0.52 ± 0.09 / 3.65 ± 0.47 / 0.79 ± 0.11 / 6.50 ± 0.65 / 1.27 ± 0.10
Site 3 / 2.35 ± 0.28 / 0.41 ± 0.08 / 3.42 ± 0.55 / 0.34 ± 0.09 / 5.84 ± 0.69 / 0.94 ± 0.11
Avg. / 2.57 ± 0.24b / 0.42 ± 0.05b / 6.29 ± 0.90a / 0.57 ± 0.06a / 8.88 ± 0.93a / 1.07 ± 0.06b

Different letters in a column indicate significance amongdifferent tea plantations,atP 0.05.AH = actively hunting spiders, SW = sit-and-wait spiders.