Effect of spider's weight on signal transmittance in vertical orb webs.

Spider orb web is a sophisticated structure that needs to fulfil multiple roles, such as trapping prey and transmitting web-borne signals. When building their web, heavier spiders tend to increase the pretension on the web, which seems counterintuitive since a tighter web would decrease the chances of stopping and retaining prey. In this article, we claim that heavier orb-weaving spiders increase tension on the web in order to reduce the attenuation of the vibratory signal coming from the bottom part of the web.