[Vol. 94 
354 Psyche 
Q 
UJ 
> 
DAYS AT WEB SITE 
Figure 4. Comparison of distribution of residence times of spiders released into 
the pine stand with that expected from a random movement hypothesis (no signifi- 
cant difference, 0.01 < p < 0.05). 
may be directly related to the differences in canopy cover between 
the two habitats (Table 2). Over this same five-day-period, only 4% 
of the observations of webs in the deciduous forest noted web de- 
struction (n = 66), in contrast to 22% noted in the pine stand (n = 
59). Such collapsed webs may have been caused by occasional 
strong breezes, large insects flying through, or predation attempts 
by birds or wasps. 
Discussion 
Field experiments demonstrating active habitat selection are rela- 
tively uncommon. Wecker (1963) and Douglas (1976) used release 
experiments which revealed habitat preference in rodents. Among 
insects, the occurrence of discriminating habitat selection has been 
shown for digger wasps (Brockmann 1979), honeybees (Lindauer 
