The use of tuning forks for studying behavioural responses in orb web spiders
Spiders and their webs are often used as model organisms to study a wide range of behaviours. However, these behavioural studies are often carried out in the laboratory, and the few field studies usually result in large amounts of video footage and subsequent labour-intensive data analysis. Thus, we...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI
2022
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| _version_ | 1797106648596086784 |
|---|---|
| author | Davies, M Hesselberg, T |
| author_facet | Davies, M Hesselberg, T |
| author_sort | Davies, M |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Spiders and their webs are often used as model organisms to study a wide range of behaviours. However, these behavioural studies are often carried out in the laboratory, and the few field studies usually result in large amounts of video footage and subsequent labour-intensive data analysis. Thus, we aimed to devise a cost- and time-effective method for studying the behaviour of spiders in the field, using the now almost forgotten method of stimulating webs with tuning forks. Our study looked at the viability of using 256 Hz and 440 Hz tuning forks to stimulate, anti-predatory and predatory responses in the orb web spider Metellina segmentata, respectively. To assess the consistency of the behaviours produced, we compared these to direct mechanical stimulation with a metal wire. The results suggest that the tuning forks produce relatively consistent behaviours within and between two years in contrast to the metal wire. We furthermore found no significant effects of spider length or web area on spider reaction times. However, we found significant differences in reaction times between escape and prey capture behaviours, and between tuning forks and the wire. Thus, we demonstrated the potential of tuning forks to rapidly generate quantitative data in a field setting. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:04:01Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:f4be27b4-b13e-46b3-805a-31898a268435 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:04:01Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | MDPI |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:f4be27b4-b13e-46b3-805a-31898a2684352022-04-13T14:50:13ZThe use of tuning forks for studying behavioural responses in orb web spidersJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:f4be27b4-b13e-46b3-805a-31898a268435EnglishSymplectic ElementsMDPI2022Davies, MHesselberg, TSpiders and their webs are often used as model organisms to study a wide range of behaviours. However, these behavioural studies are often carried out in the laboratory, and the few field studies usually result in large amounts of video footage and subsequent labour-intensive data analysis. Thus, we aimed to devise a cost- and time-effective method for studying the behaviour of spiders in the field, using the now almost forgotten method of stimulating webs with tuning forks. Our study looked at the viability of using 256 Hz and 440 Hz tuning forks to stimulate, anti-predatory and predatory responses in the orb web spider Metellina segmentata, respectively. To assess the consistency of the behaviours produced, we compared these to direct mechanical stimulation with a metal wire. The results suggest that the tuning forks produce relatively consistent behaviours within and between two years in contrast to the metal wire. We furthermore found no significant effects of spider length or web area on spider reaction times. However, we found significant differences in reaction times between escape and prey capture behaviours, and between tuning forks and the wire. Thus, we demonstrated the potential of tuning forks to rapidly generate quantitative data in a field setting. |
| spellingShingle | Davies, M Hesselberg, T The use of tuning forks for studying behavioural responses in orb web spiders |
| title | The use of tuning forks for studying behavioural responses in orb web spiders |
| title_full | The use of tuning forks for studying behavioural responses in orb web spiders |
| title_fullStr | The use of tuning forks for studying behavioural responses in orb web spiders |
| title_full_unstemmed | The use of tuning forks for studying behavioural responses in orb web spiders |
| title_short | The use of tuning forks for studying behavioural responses in orb web spiders |
| title_sort | use of tuning forks for studying behavioural responses in orb web spiders |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT daviesm theuseoftuningforksforstudyingbehaviouralresponsesinorbwebspiders AT hesselbergt theuseoftuningforksforstudyingbehaviouralresponsesinorbwebspiders AT daviesm useoftuningforksforstudyingbehaviouralresponsesinorbwebspiders AT hesselbergt useoftuningforksforstudyingbehaviouralresponsesinorbwebspiders |