Prey diversity and abundance
Of the total 164 ASVs in the dataset, only 29 ASVs were shared across
ginger and native-forest sites. Dietary richness was higher in ginger
than in native forest, with 66 total ASVs found in native forest
compared to 127 total ASVs found in dietary communities in ginger sites
(Figure 1a). Taxonomic composition showed similar trends; 11 of 31
families, 10 of 32 genera, and 5 of 23 species were shared across ginger
and native forest sites, with ginger sites containing higher overall
taxonomic richness (Figure 1b).
Hill numbers were used to quantify prey diversity within spiders between
ginger and native forest sites based on ASV and taxonomic identity.
Values were significantly different between ginger and native forest
sites (Welch t-test, p-value < 0.005; Table 1), with spiders
in ginger sites having higher values on average, representing a wider
niche breadth than spiders in native forest. Spiders in ginger had
higher reads as well; 3468.9 ± 448.98 prey reads were retained from
spiders in ginger sites compared to 700.9 ± 133.19 reads from spiders in
native forest (Welch t-test, p-value < 0.005; Figure 2). While
reads are not tightly correlated with abundance, the general
distribution of reads support differences in prey abundances in the
diets of spiders between ginger and native forest sites.