Interactions Between Web-Building Immigrant and Agrobiont Spider Species in Wheat and the Effect on Pest Consumption in a Desert Agroecosystem
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Interactions between Web-building Immigrant and Agrobiont Spider Species in Wheat and the Effect on Pest Consumption in a Desert Agroecosystem Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of “DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY” by Itai Opatovsky Submitted to the Senate of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev October 2013 Sede-Boqer Interactions between Web-building Immigrant and Agrobiont Spider Species in Wheat and the Effect on Pest Consumption in a Desert Agroecosystem Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of “DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY” by Itai Opatovsky Submitted to the Senate of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Approved by the advisors Approved by the Dean of the Kreitman School of Advanced Graduate Studies October 2013 Sede Boqer This work was carried out under the supervision of: Prof. Yael Lubin In the Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology Faculty: Albert Katz International School for Desert Studies The Jacob Blaustein Institudes for Desert Research And Dr. Phyllis G. Weintraub In the Department of Entomology Agricultural Research Organization, Gilat Research Center Research-Student's Affidavit when Submitting the Doctoral Thesis for Judgment I, Itai Opatovsky, whose signature appears below, hereby declare that (Please mark the appropriate statements): _X_ I have written this Thesis by myself, except for the help and guidance offered by my Thesis Advisors. ___ The scientific materials included in this Thesis are products of my own research, culled from the period during which I was a research student. ___ This Thesis incorporates research materials produced in cooperation with others, excluding the technical help commonly received during experimental work. Therefore, I am attaching another affidavit stating the contributions made by myself and the other participants in this research, which has been approved by them and submitted with their approval. Date: __13.8.2014____ Student's name: ___Itai Opatovsky__ Signature:______________ Acknowledgments I want to thank many people that helped me, taught me and joined me in this long process of PhD research. First of all I want to thank my supervisors: Prof. Yael Lubin, that raised me well from a young spiderling and Dr. Phyllis Weintraub that showed me the field of applied agricultural research. I want to thank the people that help me conduct this research: Iris Musli, for teaching me everything I know about spider identification, Ishai Hoffman for assisting me for long hours in the field and Prof. James Harwood, Dr. Eric Chapman, Dr. Matt Dougherty, Prof. Shai Morin and Dr. Shirli Bar-David for teaching me the mysterious world of molecular work and for hosting me in their laboratory. I want to thank all my fellow lab members: Dr. Efrat Gavish-Regev, Dr. Daphna Gotlieb, Dr. Reut Berger-Tal, Dr. John Hermann, Dr. Eric Yip, Dr. Valeria Hochman-Adler, Naama and Shlomi Aaron, Huda Beiruti and Eitan Amiel for all the good advice and comments. I would like to thank my parents that taught me the importance of curiosity, how start fastest and always to boost and for letting me to bring all these crawling creatures into my room. Most important, I want to thank my family, Jenia, Ela and Tchoop for supporting me and for knowing how to cheer me in the difficult times. Table of contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................1 Chapter I: General introduction .................................................................................................5 Figure ................................................................................................................................... 10 Chapter II: General methods ....................................................................................................11 Study site .............................................................................................................................. 11 Figure ................................................................................................................................... 12 Chapter III: Molecular characterization of the differential role of immigrant and agrobiont generalist predators in pest suppression............................................................13 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 13 Materials and methods ........................................................................................................ 14 Results .................................................................................................................................. 16 Discussion ............................................................................................................................ 18 Tables ................................................................................................................................... 21 Figures .................................................................................................................................. 22 Chapter IV: Niche separation in an ephemeral environment: prey consumption and competition in coexisting spider species in an agroecosystem .........................................25 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 25 Materials and methods ......................................................................................................... 26 Results .................................................................................................................................. 29 Discussion ............................................................................................................................ 31 Figures .................................................................................................................................. 35 Chapter V: Differences in habitat use and colonization pattern as a mechanism for competition avoidance ........................................................................................................43 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 43 Materials and methods ......................................................................................................... 45 Results .................................................................................................................................. 46 Discussion ............................................................................................................................ 47 Tables ................................................................................................................................... 51 Figures .................................................................................................................................. 52 Chapter VI: General discussion ...............................................................................................55 Figure ................................................................................................................................... 58 References ................................................................................................................................ 59 Appendixes .............................................................................................................................. 65 Abstract in Hebrew .................................................................................................................. 82 List of Tables Table 3.1 ..................................................................................................................................21 Table 5.1 ..................................................................................................................................51 List of Figures Figure 1.1 .................................................................................................................................10 Figure 2.1 .................................................................................................................................12 Figure 3.1 .................................................................................................................................22 Figure 3.2 .................................................................................................................................23 Figure 3.3 .................................................................................................................................24 Figure 4.1 .................................................................................................................................35 Figure 4.2 .................................................................................................................................36 Figure 4.3 .................................................................................................................................37 Figure 4.4 .................................................................................................................................38 Figure 4.5 .................................................................................................................................39 Figure 4.6 .................................................................................................................................40