Angelo Coast Range Reserve

15 May, 11 AM - 16 May, 08 AM

There are currently ~24 described species within the wolf spider genus Schizocosa, the majority of which are found in the southeastern forests of the United States. Within this genus, there is tremendous diversity in the secondary sexual traits of the males as well as their associated courtship signals. Several species within the genus use only seismic signals during courthsip displays while others display with seismic signals simultaneous with visual signals. Furthermore, in some species, the male's forelegs (used in visual leg waving displays)possess ornamentation thought to amplify the leg waving display. This project attempts to examine the selection pressures driving the evolution of multimodal signaling in the wolf spider genus Schizocosa. Using a comparative approach in which I examine the function of both seismic and visual signals across a variety of species, I hope to gain insight into the function of the complex display across species as well as elucidate potential differences among species in selection pressures. This project is being done in collaboration with a colleague at San Diego State who is constructing a molecular phylogeny of the group in order to have a better historical map upon which to lay the results from my behavioral trials. The Angelo Coast Range Reserve is home to several populations of the wolf spider Schizocosa mccooki (Suttle, pers. comm), which is a species that I have not had access to in the past. Initially, I simply need to collect individuals of S. mccooki in order to bring them back to the laboratory at UC Berkeley to run behavioral experiments. The experiments consist of a 2x2 design in which I manipulate the visual signal (present/absent) and the vibratory signal (present/absent) independently and assess mating frequency. In the future, it is likely that I would need to conduct field-based research assessing the signaling environment and measuring such things as the transfer functions of various substrates, the natural visual and seismic noise levels, etc.

Visit #5340 @Angelo Coast Range Reserve

Approved

Under Project # 4234 | Research

Evolution of multimodal signaling in the wolf spider genus Schizocosa

faculty - University of California, Berkeley

Reservation Members(s)

Eileen Hebets May 15 - 16, 2004 (2 days)

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Wilderness Lodge 1 May 15 - 16, 2004