Data from: Rain, predators, and spider sociality: a manipulative experiment

AbstractGroup-living organisms offer a unique perspective on how environmental gradients influence geographic distributions, as not only the properties of individuals, but also those of their groups interact with the environment to determine a species range. In turn, the ranges of group-living organisms should provide insights on the conditions that favor group versus solitary living. Here we show that rain intensity and predation by ants, factors postulated to exclude subsocial Anelosimus spiders from the lowland tropical rainforest, are greater in this habitat than at higher elevations. We further show that experimentally excluding these factors increases the survival of subsocial Anelosimus colonies when transplanted to the lowland rainforest, but not at their native higher elevation range. While providing a rare experimental test of the simultaneous importance of abiotic and biotic gradients on species range limits, these results provide direct evidence that adverse environmental factors may prevent solitary living and require group living in certain environments., Usage notesSummary File of Data for Hoffman & Aviles_BehavEcol_2017Five datasets included: (1) Survival of colonies of the subsocial spider Anelosimus elegans (Theridiidae) transplanted from the Lower Montane Cloud Forest (1000m) to the Lowland Tropical Rainforest (400m) in Eastern Ecuador. (2) Rain rate data collected manually in the field for 4 elevations (400-2100m) along the Eastern Ecuadorean Andes. (3) Quarterly rain rate data for locations along two elevational transects (spanning 211-2100m) in the Eastern Ecuadorean Andes, processed from monthly satellite data from NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Project (TRMM). (4, 5) Data taken in the field of the rate spider and tuna baits were found by ants and other predators at 4 elevations in the Eastern Ecuadorean Andes.

## 摘要
群居生物为探究环境梯度如何影响地理分布提供了独特视角：不仅生物个体的性状，其群体的性状亦会与环境相互作用，共同决定物种的分布范围。反之，群居生物的分布范围亦可用于揭示有利于群体生活而非独居生活的环境条件。本研究证实，降雨强度与蚂蚁捕食这两个被认为会将亚社会阿内蛛属 (Anelosimus) 蜘蛛排除在低地热带雨林之外的因素，在该生境中的强度均高于高海拔区域。本研究进一步证实，通过实验移除上述两类因素后，移植至低地雨林的亚社会阿内蛛属蜘蛛群落的存活率显著提升，但在其原生的高海拔分布范围内则无此效果。本研究虽仅针对非生物与生物梯度对物种分布边界的协同重要性开展了罕见的实验验证，但其结果亦直接证明：在特定环境中，不利的环境因素会阻碍独居生活，进而促使生物选择群体生活。

## 使用说明
使用说明：《霍夫曼与阿维莱斯2017年行为生态学》研究数据汇总文件。本数据集包含5组数据：
1. 亚社会优雅阿内蛛 (Anelosimus elegans，球蛛科(Theridiidae)) 群落存活率数据：样本从厄瓜多尔东部的低山地云雾林（海拔1000米）移植至低地热带雨林（海拔400米）后追踪所得。
2. 野外手动采集的厄瓜多尔东部安第斯山脉沿线4个海拔梯度（400-2100米）的降雨速率数据。
3. 基于美国国家航空航天局(NASA)热带降雨测量任务(Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Project, TRMM)的月度卫星数据处理得到的厄瓜多尔东部安第斯山脉两条海拔样带（覆盖211-2100米）沿线站点的季度降雨速率数据。
4、5. 野外捕食率数据：在厄瓜多尔东部安第斯山脉的4个海拔梯度处，放置蜘蛛诱饵与金枪鱼诱饵后，被蚂蚁及其他捕食者发现的速率。