Can a spider web be too sticky? Tensile mechanics constrains the evolution of capture spiral stickiness in orb-weaving spiders

被引:64
作者
Agnarsson, I. [1 ,2 ,3 ]
Blackledge, T. A. [2 ,3 ]
机构
[1] Univ Puerto Rico, Dept Biol, Rio Piedras, PR 00931 USA
[2] Univ Akron, Dept Biol, Akron, OH 44325 USA
[3] Univ Akron, Integrated Biosci Program, Akron, OH 44325 USA
基金
美国国家科学基金会;
关键词
glue; orb web; prey capture; sticky silk; strength; stretchiness; VAN-DER-WAALS; PREY CAPTURE; THREADS SPUN; SILK; ADHESION; FEATURES;
D O I
10.1111/j.1469-7998.2009.00558.x
中图分类号
Q95 [动物学];
学科分类号
071002 ;
摘要
Orb-weaving spiders rely on sticky capture threads to retain prey long enough to be located and attacked. The evolution of viscid silk is associated with the high diversity of araneoid orb-weaving spiders, in part because it is cheaper to produce than the primitive dry cribellate fibrous adhesive used by deinopoid orb-weaving spiders. Unlike cribellate threads, viscid glue contributes little to the tensile strength of the capture spiral it decorates. However, viscid silk utilizes a unique suspension bridge mechanism, absent in cribellate silk, which increases total stickiness by recruiting the adhesion of multiple glue droplets. Here, we analyze the relationship between stickiness of viscid silk and various biomechanical and architectural features of webs that may influence its evolution, across a sample of 17 ecribellate orb-weaving species. The force required to break capture spiral fibers is the single most important factor explaining about 90% of the variation in stickiness among orb spiders. Stickiness increases linearly with capture spiral strength, but with a significant safety factor because stickiness is always less than the force required to break the silk. Our results thus indicate that evolutionary changes in the stickiness of the capture spiral are largely constrained by the strength of the fiber the glue is placed on rather than by the chemistry of the glue itself. This implies that orb webs function optimally when threads are able to detach and adhere repeatedly to struggling prey.
引用
收藏
页码:134 / 140
页数:7
相关论文
共 32 条
[1]  
[Anonymous], MESQUITE MODULAR SYS
[2]   Silken toolkits:: biomechanics of silk fibers spun by the orb web spider Argiope argentata (Fabricius 1775) [J].
Blackledge, TA ;
Hayashi, CY .
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY, 2006, 209 (13) :2452-2461
[3]   Quasistatic and continuous dynamic characterization of the mechanical properties of silk from the cobweb of the black widow spider Latrodectus hesperus [J].
Blackledge, TA ;
Swindeman, JE ;
Hayashi, CY .
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY, 2005, 208 (10) :1937-1949
[4]   Functionally independent components of prey capture are architecturally constrained in spider orb webs [J].
Blackledge, Todd A. ;
Eliason, Chad M. .
BIOLOGY LETTERS, 2007, 3 (05) :456-458
[5]   Mesh width influences prey retention in spider orb webs [J].
Blackledge, Todd A. ;
Zevenbergen, Jacquelyn M. .
ETHOLOGY, 2006, 112 (12) :1194-1201
[6]   Unraveling the mechanical properties of composite silk threads spun by cribellate orb-weaving spiders [J].
Blackledge, Todd A. ;
Hayashi, Cheryl Y. .
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY, 2006, 209 (16) :3131-3140
[7]   Testing adaptive radiation and key innovation hypotheses in spiders [J].
Bond, JE ;
Opell, BD .
EVOLUTION, 1998, 52 (02) :403-414
[8]   SYSTEMATICS AND EVOLUTION OF SPIDERS (ARANEAE) [J].
CODDINGTON, JA ;
LEVI, HW .
ANNUAL REVIEW OF ECOLOGY AND SYSTEMATICS, 1991, 22 :565-592
[9]   FUNCTION AND PHYLOGENY OF SPIDER WEBS [J].
EBERHARD, WG .
ANNUAL REVIEW OF ECOLOGY AND SYSTEMATICS, 1990, 21 :341-372
[10]  
FELSENSTEIN J, 1985, AM NAT, V125, P1, DOI 10.1086/284325