Publications by authors named "Madeline B Girard"
Article Synopsis
- Biologists have been trying to understand female preferences in species where males display a variety of attractive traits, particularly focusing on Maratus jumping spiders, known for their striking differences in appearance and behavior.
- Despite numerous examples of sexual selection in nature, actual evidence—especially for species using multiple communication methods—has been limited, prompting researchers to conduct mating trials with Maratus volans to explore this.
- The study revealed that male courtship success relies on a mix of visual and vibratory traits, indicating strong sexual selection; it also suggests that the evolution of multi-modal signaling may support theories like redundant signals and multiple messages.
Background: The ability to discriminate between two similar or progressively dissimilar colours is important for many animals as it allows for accurately interpreting visual signals produced by key target stimuli or distractor information. Spectrophotometry objectively measures the spectral characteristics of these signals, but is often limited to point samples that could underestimate spectral variability within a single sample. Algorithms for RGB images and digital imaging devices with many more than three channels, hyperspectral cameras, have been recently developed to produce image spectrophotometers to recover reflectance spectra at individual pixel locations.
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- Feathers can create sound through fluttering in airflow, which is linked to their structural resonance frequencies and aerodynamic forces.
- A study on hummingbird tail feathers showed different flutter modes, such as tip, trailing vane, and torsional modes, which can switch abruptly with changes in airspeed or orientation.
- The research confirmed that the flutter behavior corresponds to the feather's bending or torsional resonance frequencies, particularly noting a stronger match with tip and torsional modes compared to trailing vane modes.
The peacock spider, Maratus volans, has one of the most elaborate courtship displays in arthropods. Using regular and high-speed video segments captured in the lab, we provide detailed descriptions of complete male courtship dances. As research on jumping spiders has demonstrated that males of some species produce vibrations concurrently with visual displays, we also used laser vibrometry to uncover such elements for this species.
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