University of Mississippi eGrove Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 2011 Population Biology Of A Coastal Dune-Dwelling Spider (Arctosa Sanctaerosae) Along The Hurricane Disturbed Northern Gulf Of Mexico Coast Robert A. Hataway University of Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd Part of the Biology Commons Recommended Citation Hataway, Robert A., "Population Biology Of A Coastal Dune-Dwelling Spider (Arctosa Sanctaerosae) Along The Hurricane Disturbed Northern Gulf Of Mexico Coast" (2011). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 384. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/384 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of eGrove. For more information, please contact [email protected]. POPULATION BIOLOGY OF A COASTAL DUNE-DWELLING SPIDER (ARCTOSA SANCTAEROSAE) ALONG THE HURRICANE DISTURBED NORTHERN GULF OF MEXICO COAST A dissertation presented in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Biology The University of Mississippi by ROBERT ANDREW HATAWAY July 2011 Copyright Robert Andrew Hataway 2011 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABSTRACT With the continued increase in the number of tourists visiting the Northern Gulf coast in the last century and the resulting development of this coastline the habitat of Arctosa sanctaerosae has become fragmented; and the sprawl of large cities along the coast has further degraded available habitat. In addition to anthropogenic disturbance to this coastal region, hurricanes are an additional and natural perturbation to the ecosystem. This habitat has seen a number of major tropical storms over the last decade and I have sought to explore the impact of habitat destruction and storm-induced disturbance on a species of spider endemic to the coastal dunes of the Northern Gulf Coast. Arctosa sanctaerosae, family Lycosidae, is a wolf spider endemic to the secondary dunes of the white sandy beaches of the Northern Gulf of Mexico. The data presented here explore the status of populations of this species spanning the entire known range and the factors influencing population demography. These findings demonstrate the significant impact of storms on both disturbed and undisturbed habitat and reveal factors influencing the recovery of the spiders, relating this to ecological factors including the height of the dunes and density of vegetation before and following hurricanes Ivan and Katrina. These results reveal habitat characteristics that appear to play a large role in population persistence and components of human disturbance of habitat that have the greatest impact on populations of spiders. Using microsatellite markers I characterize the current structure of the subpopulations of Arctosa sanctaerosae, and current and historical patterns of interpopulation migration. Contemporary modeling methods compare current and historical levels of gene flow and document the decline in migration due to habitat fragmentation. Since the introduction of dense ii human development along the Northern Gulf of Mexico Coast, Arctosa sanctaerosae has seen what appears to have been a single, contiguous population subdivided and the isolates reduced in size. These results point to the need for further exploration of the status and continued monitoring of the species. iii I would like to dedicate my dissertation work to my family. My wife and parent’s unwavering confidence in my abilities has pushed me to complete this goal and for that I am thankful. My sister and brother-in-law have been there for me throughout the entire doctorate program. I also dedicate this dissertation work to Dr. Ronald Jenkins whose support and guidance made it possible. iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS NGC Northern Gulf Coast A. sanctaerosae Arctosa sanctaerosae A. littoralis Arctosa littoralis m Meter mm Millimeter m2 Square meter St. Saint ABM Alabama Beach Mouse et al. Latin et alia, and others AL Alabama FL Florida MS Mississippi Ft. Fort ANOVA Analysis of variance, a statistical method R Growth rate ln Natural logarithm log Logarithm N0 Size at time step zero N1 Size after one time step v dh Dune height gps Global positioning system N Sample size p P-value, a statistical term S.E. Standard error adj Adjusted AIC Akaike Information Criterion w Akaike Information Criterion model weight km Kilometers R2 Regression statistic e.g. Latin exemli grati, for example DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid bp Base pairs SDS Sodium dodecyl sulfate SSC saline-sodium citrate μL Microliter TLE Tris low Ethylenediamine tetra-acetic acid dNTP Deoxyribonucleotide triphosphate MgCl2 Magnesium chloride mg Milligram vi °C Degrees Centigrade No. Number Fis Inbreeding coefficient He Expected heterozygosity Ho Observed heterozygosity x¯ Mean PCR Polymerase chain reaction v. Version ABI Applied Biosystems Incorporated STR Short tandem repeat HWE Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium WSR/PK West Santa Rosa Island/ Perdido Key HSP Henderson State Park sec Seconds min Minutes MCMC Markov chain Monte Carlo, a statistical method K Number of genetically unique subpopulations Fst Fixation index Ar Allelic richness Hs Gene diversity vii M Molar Ne Effective migration rate C.I. Confidence interval ID Identification etc. Latin Et cetera, and so on viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I thank my committee, Dr. David Reed, Dr. Brice Noonan, Dr. Gail Stratton, Dr. Stephen Brewer, Dr. Clifford Ochs, and Dr. Gerard Buskes and everyone who supported and contributed to this work: M. Howell, R. Jenkins, S. Neilson, K Sterling, J. King, A. Teoh, A. Nicholas, F. Hataway, E. Maynard, C. Bertz, B. Piculell, and P. Beerli, and D. Reed. I am grateful to the faculty, staff, and graduate student body of The University of Mississippi Department of Biology for their constant support and guidance. This study was supported by grants from The Lindbergh Foundation and The University of Mississippi Graduate Student Council. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ………………………………………………………..…………………………….ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS …………….…………………………………..v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……………………………………………………………………...ix LIST OF TABLES ……………………………………………………………………………….xi LIST OF FIGURES ………………………………………..…………………………………...xiii INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………...1 CHAPTER 1: Population biology of a coastal dune-dwelling spider, Arctosa sanctaerosae (Araneae: Lycosidae), along the hurricane disturbed northern Gulf of Mexico coast ………………………………………………………………………………….4 CHAPTER II: Development of 10 microsatellite loci in the wolf spider Arctosa sanctaerosae (Araneae: Lycosidae) …..........................................................................................31 CHAPTER III: Hurricanes and Human Conversion of Habitat Leading to Population Isolation in the costal wolf spider Arctosa sanctaerosae (Araneae: Lycosidae) .....................................................................................................................................36 CHAPTER 4. Bottlenecks and declines in population size of the wolf spider Arctosa sanctaerosae ……………...………………………………………………………………….51 BIBLIOGRAPHY..........................................................................................................................64 VITA..............................................................................................................................................76 x LIST OF TABLES 1. Site location and Ranking of Beach Quality …………………………………………….........16 2. Mean Densities and Growth Rates 2004-2007 ….……………………………………………22 3. Comparison of models describing the proposed factors contributing to proportional population reduction as a result of Hurricane Ivan ……………………………23 4. Comparison of models describing the proposed factors contributing to proportional population reduction as a result of Hurricane Katrina …………..…………….23 5. Comparison of models describing the proposed factors contributing to population growth rate in the year immediately following Hurricane Ivan …………………25 6. Comparison of models describing the proposed factors contributing to population growth rate in the year immediately following Hurricane Katrina ……………...25 7. Within population heterozygosity levels across loci and Fis estimates ...……………………..33 8. Characterization and level of variability at 10 microsatellite loci in 11 populations of Arctosa sanctaerosae ………………………………………………………..35 9. Population cluster assignments and gps data …………………………………………………42 10. Number of individuals (N), mean allelic richness (Ar), gene diversity (Hs), observed heterozygosity (Ho), expected heterozygosity (He) and, the inbreeding coefficient (Fis) for Arctosa sanctaerosae in five population clusters along the Northern Gulf of Mexico Coast……………………………………………………………...44 11. Pairwise Fst scores below diagonal and pairwise geographic distances (km) above the line ………………………………………………………………………………44 xi 12. Comparison of the mean number of effective migrants reaching a population recently (as estimated by BAYESASS) versus the mean number of historically (as estimated by MIGRATE) ……………………………………………………………46 13. Estimates of recent effective population size (Ne) and census population size (Nc)………...60 14. Estimates of Historic effective population size (Ne)…………………………………………60 xii LIST OF FIGURES 1. Complete Dune System Including Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Dunes………………….7 2. County map showing geographic range of A. sanctaerosae. All counties in which A. sanctaerosae was found are shaded.