1987] 
Hodge — Orb weaving spider 
355 
O 
Lii 
> 
DAYS AT WEB SITE 
Figure 5. Comparison of distribution of residence times of spiders released into 
the deciduous forest with that expected from a random movement hypothesis (signif- 
icantly different, p < 0.001). 
1961) and aphids (Whitham 1979). Enders (1972) found that field- 
dwelling orb weavers ( Argiope spp.) released into wooded habitats 
did not remain in the wooded area, but successively relocated their 
webs until they came to a field situation. This is similar to the 
behavior observed in this experiment. The observation that spiders 
released into the pine stand moved into the deciduous forest, where- 
as spiders released into the deciduous forest remained there, sug- 
gests that M. gracilis prefers that particular type of habitat. Further 
evidence of habitat preference is suggested by the significantly short- 
er residence times at pine stand web sites compared to those in the 
deciduous forest area. 
Although five days is a relatively short period of time, weather 
conditions at the time of environmental data collection were repre- 
sentative of those present throughout the entire study, during which 
weather conditions were very constant. The results presented here 
