Nonlinear changes in selection on a mating display across a continuous thermal gradient.

Understanding how animal communication varies across time and space is critical to understanding how animal signals have evolved and how they function. Changes in temperature, which occur across both time and space, can alter both the courtship and mate choice behaviour of ectothermic animals. In this study, we examine the effect of daily thermal variation on courtship and mate choice in the wolf spider Schizocosa floridana, which produces a complex song with vibrations from three distinct body parts.

Dynamic changes in display architecture and function across environments revealed by a systems approach to animal communication.

Animal communication is often structurally complex and dynamic, with signaler and receiver behavior varying in response to multiple environmental factors. To date, studies assessing signal dynamics have mostly focused on the relationships between select signaling traits and receiver responses in a single environment. We use the wolf spider Schizocosa floridana to explore the relationships between courtship display form and function across two social contexts (female presence vs absence) and two light environments (light vs dark).

Crossing regimes of temperature dependence in animal movement.

A pressing challenge in ecology is to understand the effects of changing global temperatures on food web structure and dynamics. The stability of these complex ecological networks largely depends on how predator-prey interactions may respond to temperature changes. Because predators and prey rely on their velocities to catch food or avoid being eaten, understanding how temperatures may affect animal movement is central to this quest.