Prey diversity and abundance
Of the total 164 ASVs in the dataset, only 29 ASVs were shared across ginger and native-forest sites. Dietary richness was higher in ginger than in native forest, with 66 total ASVs found in native forest compared to 127 total ASVs found in dietary communities in ginger sites (Figure 1a). Taxonomic composition showed similar trends; 11 of 31 families, 10 of 32 genera, and 5 of 23 species were shared across ginger and native forest sites, with ginger sites containing higher overall taxonomic richness (Figure 1b).
Hill numbers were used to quantify prey diversity within spiders between ginger and native forest sites based on ASV and taxonomic identity. Values were significantly different between ginger and native forest sites (Welch t-test, p-value < 0.005; Table 1), with spiders in ginger sites having higher values on average, representing a wider niche breadth than spiders in native forest. Spiders in ginger had higher reads as well; 3468.9 ± 448.98 prey reads were retained from spiders in ginger sites compared to 700.9 ± 133.19 reads from spiders in native forest (Welch t-test, p-value < 0.005; Figure 2). While reads are not tightly correlated with abundance, the general distribution of reads support differences in prey abundances in the diets of spiders between ginger and native forest sites.