Data from: The contribution of developmental experience vs. condition to life history, trait variation, and individual differences

Developmental experience, for example food abundance during juvenile
stages, is known to affect life history and behaviour. However, the life
history and behavioural consequences of developmental experience have
rarely been studied in concert. As a result it is still unclear whether
developmental experience affects behaviour through changes in life
history, or independently of it. The effect of developmental experience on
life history and behaviour may also be masked or affected by individual
condition during adulthood. Thus, it is critical to tease apart the
effects of developmental experience and current individual condition on
life history and behaviour. In this study we manipulated food abundance
during development in the western black widow spider, Latrodectus
hesperus, by rearing spiders on either a restricted or ad lib diet. We
separated developmental from condition dependent effects by assaying adult
foraging behaviour (tendency to attack prey and to stay on out of the
refuge following an attack) and web structure multiple times under
different levels of satiation following different developmental
treatments. Spiders reared under food restriction matured slower and at a
smaller size than spiders reared in ad lib conditions. Spiders reared on a
restricted diet were more aggressive towards prey and built webs
structured for prey capture while spiders reared on an ad lib diet were
less aggressive and build safer webs. Developmental treatment affected
which traits were plastic as adults: restricted spiders built safer webs
when their adult condition increased, while ad-lib spiders reduced their
aggression when their adult condition increased. The amount of individual
variation in behaviour and web structure varied with developmental
treatment. Spiders reared on a restricted diet exhibited consistent
variation in all aspects of foraging behaviour and web structure, while
spiders reared on an ad lib diet exhibited consistent individual variation
in aggression and web weight only. Developmental experience affected the
average life history, behaviour, and web structure of spiders, but also
shaped the amount of phenotypic variation observed among individuals.
Surprisingly, developmental experience also determined the particular way
in which individuals plastically adjusted their behaviour and web
structure to changes in adult condition.