Interested in conducting original research on the behavioral ecology of spiders?
What is behavioral ecology?
Behavioral ecology is the study of the adaptive value of behavior. Behavioral ecologists use a cost and benefit approach to assess the fitness consequences of various behaviors.
Why study spiders?
Spiders are among the most abundant terrestrial predators on the planet and are therefore extremely important ecologically and economically. Spiders may compose more than 50% of the predatory fauna in some ecosystems and are important biocontrol agents in agricultural systems. Spiders are easily cultured in the lab and studied in the field. They lend themselves well to questions about sexual selection, foraging strategies, predator-prey interactions, communication, parental investment, population biology, and trophic interactions. There are about 35,000 known species (out of a total estimate of 100,000 or more) yet they remain an understudied taxon. Why not venture where few biologists have tread? A sample of some of the possible areas of research include:
Do prey innately recognize a predator? If so how?
What information can prey gain about a predator through chemical cues alone?
What information can prey gain about a predator through chemical cues alone? (e.g. size, diet etc.)
What defensive strategies do prey use to avoid predators?
What impact does avoiding predators have on other behaviors like eating or finding a mate?
What signals are important to females in deciding whether to mate with a male, eat him, or both?
Why are some signals used instead of others?
What information do predators and prey unintentionally give to each other? How do parents recognize their offspring?
Why do females sometimes eat males and what factors affect the timing of that decision (before or after mating?)
Do males choose females? Can they recognize potentially cannibalistic ones?
Why do some males take over three hours to mate while others take 2 minutes?
What is the effect of missing legs and other body parts on reproduction for males and females?
How does a spider decide how long to search an area for food before they give up and move somewhere else? What impact does this decision have on energy reserves?
How does a predator decide which type of food to eat? What factors effect this decision?
Spiders are cannibalistic. What cues prevent them from consuming their own offspring? Or do they?
How do spiders recognize their egg sacs they carry?
How do spiderlings decide when to leave their mother? Will they disperse into just any habitat or are they innately attracted to some areas and not others? Does the mother remove them?
What are the survival and feeding costs of carrying offspring?
What benefits do spiderlings have of being carried around by their mother?
Effect of predators on reproductive behaviors in the wolf spider Pardosa milvina
How do males search for mates, court, and mate under predation risk?
How do females respond to courting males when a predator is around?
How do predators interfere with foraging and egg production?
What is the long-term effects on different spatial and temporal patterns of predation risk?
How do behavioral shifts while under predation risk translate into increased survival?
How do prey minimize the costs of antipredator behavior?