Using group-specific PCR to detect predation of mayflies (Ephemeroptera) by wolf spiders (Lycosidae) at a mercury-contaminated site

Bioaccumulation of contaminants can occur across ecosystem boundaries via transport by emergent aquatic insects. In the South River, Virginia, USA, aquatic mercury has contaminated songbirds nesting in adjacent riparian forests. Spiders contribute the majority of mercury to these songbirds’ diets. We tested the hypothesis that massive annual mayfly emergences provide a vector for mercury from river sediments to the Lycosid spiders most frequently eaten by contaminated songbirds. We designed mayfly-specific PCR primers that amplified mtDNA from 76% of adult mayflies collected at this site. By combining this approach with an Agilent 2100 electrophoresis system, we created a highly sensitive test for mayfly predation by Lycosids, commonly known as wolf spiders. In laboratory spider feeding trials, mayfly DNA could be detected up to 192 h post-ingestion; however, we detected no mayfly predation in a sample of 110 wolf spiders collected at the site during mayfly emergence. We suggest that mayfly predation is not an important mechanism for dietary transfer of mercury to wolf spiders and their avian predators at the South River. Instead, floodplain soil should be considered as a potential proximate source for mercury in the terrestrial food web.

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► Aquatic mercury has contaminated songbirds, whose diets are composed mainly of spiders.
► No mayfly mtDNA was found in gut contents of spiders in the area.
► Mayflies are unlikely sources of dietary mercury for contaminated spiders.
► Floodplain soil may be the proximate source for mercury in the terrestrial food web.