Environ. Entornol. 24(4): 823-831 (1995) ABSTRACT As part of an investigation to estimate the effect of resident spider populations on Erythroneura vatiabilis Beamer, spider species composition, relative abundance, and sea­ sonal occurrence were determined. Spiders were sampled monthly during the 1992 and 1993 growing seasons; their numbers were pooled and analyzed for species diversity using t...

Silks are highly expressed, secreted proteins that represent a substantial metabolic cost to the insects and spiders that produce them. Female spiders in the superfamily Araneoidea (the orb-spinning spiders and their close relatives) spin six different kinds of silk (three fibroins and three fibrous protein glues) that differ in amino acid content and protein structure. In addition to this dive...

Spiders can cause trophic cascades affecting litter decomposition rates. However, it remains unclear how spiders with different foraging strategies influence faunal communities, or present cascading effects on decomposition. Furthermore, increased dry periods predicted in future climates will likely have important consequences for trophic interactions in detritus-based food webs. We investigate...

In this paper more than 50 incidences of bats being captured by spiders are reviewed. Bat-catching spiders have been reported from virtually every continent with the exception of Antarctica (≈ 90% of the incidences occurring in the warmer areas of the globe between latitude 30° N and 30° S). Most reports refer to the Neotropics (42% of observed incidences), Asia (28.8%), and Australia-Papua New...

We examined the arthropod community on eastern hemlock, Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carr, in the context of its role in providing potential prey items for hemlock-associated web-weaving spiders. Using sticky traps simulating spider webs, we evaluated what prey items are available to web-weaving spiders in eastern hemlock based on web orientation (horizontal versus vertical) and cardinal direction. W...

Spiders perform many essential ecological services, yet humans often experience negative emotions toward spiders. These emotions can lead to the avoidance of beneficial events. These emotions may affect beliefs about what should or should not be included in a science curriculum. This study investigated how activities with living spiders affected preservice middle school science teachers' emotio...

Evolutionary history and structural considerations constrain all aspects of animal physiology. Constraints on invertebrate locomotion are especially straightforward for students to observe and understand. In this exercise, students use spiders to investigate the concepts of adaptation, structure-function relationships, and trade-offs. Students measure burst and endurance performance in several ...

Native grasslands are among the most imperiled of the North American ecosystems, but abandoned agricultural areas may provide suitable habitat for animal taxa that are endemic to grasslands. We studied how species diversity of orb-weaving spiders was influenced by secondary succession of a grassland plant community by monitoring the abundance and species diversity in study plots that were culti...

Allometric studies of the gross neuroanatomy of adults from nine species of spiders from six web-weaving families (Orbicularia), and nymphs from six of these species, show that very small spiders resemble other small animals in having disproportionately larger central nervous systems (CNSs) relative to body mass when compared with large-bodied forms. Small spiderlings and minute adult spiders h...

We studied the interaction between the plant Cnidoscolus multilobus, its floral visitors and the predator spider Peucetia viridans. The diet of P. viridans was composed exclusively of arthropods (spiders 32%, insects 68%). Body length of prey was 5.9 ± 1.0 mm, and prey size range was 11.0 ± 0.4 mm (i.e. 0.14-1.3 times larger than the spider). Based on feeding frequency and time available for pr...