Availability of invertebrate prey for micro-carnivores

he lesser hairy-footed dunnart (Sminthopsis youngsoni, Dasyuridae) is a generalist marsupial insectivore in arid Australia, but consumes wolf spiders (Lycosa spp., Lycosidae) disproportionately often relative to their availability. This project tested the hypothesis that this disproportionate predation is a product of frequent encounter rates between the interactants due to high overlap in their diets and use of space and time. This data set focuses on the dietary aspect. Specifically, invertebrate pitfall trapping was employed to quantify food availability and selectivity for both wolf spiders and S. youngsoni. Pitfall traps were deployed along trails left by tracked individuals, as well as control trails, of both species groups in the north-western Simpson Desert, Queensland. In total, invertebrate pitfall traps were deployed along 11 S. youngsoni and 8 lycosid trails in October 2016. Invertebrates were identified to Order, except for spiders (Order Arachnida) and bees, wasps and ants (Order Hymenoptera) which were identified to Family using identification keys and were also were counted and grouped into seven size classes. This data was used for the following analyses: a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) to test whether total numbers of arthropods differed between trail type and species, non-metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) and permutational analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) to test whether assemblages of arthropod prey and prey sizes differed between the two trail types for each species and between each species.