SPIN-CITY
from 11/09/2019
Have you ever walked around the city in the summer? Then you know it can get very hot because of all the asphalt and the concrete that retains the heat! Staying cool in this heat is not only a problem for humans, but also for animals. But this is just one of the challenges they face. The city is a completely new environment that they must be able to adapt to. Cities can therefore be seen as "living laboratories" where evolution takes place in real time! In the SPIDER-CITY project we want to investigate how spiders can adapt to city life. We focus on two important spider traits: colour and webs. Spider colour. Much like a white car heats up less in the sun compared to a black car, so does a lighter spider heat up less compared to a dark spider. Therefore we expect city spiders to evolve a more lighter colour as this protects them from overheating in an already hot city. Spider webs. As the main tool for prey capture, webs are crucial for spider survival. Due to a lower supply of prey in cities, we expect to see webs with a smaller mesh size that are more efficient in capturing prey. How? Citizen scientists are a crucial part of the SPIN-CITY project! Using the SPIDERSPOTTER app you can take spider photos and report specific observations. You can analyze your own photos and those of others on the SPINNENSPOTTER website to determine spider color, length and web size. An interactive map ensures that our results are accessible to everyone who is interested! Why study adaptations to city living in spiders? Not only do we get crucial information about how animals can adapt to climate change, studying spiders can also be very useful for us humans! We can use spider color as a natural thermometer and thus better determine how quickly our environment heats up. And who knows, by examining in detail how a spider uses color to stay cool, we might even find new ways of staying cool in the city ourselves! Read more about SPIDERSPOTTER and the SPIDER-CITY project on www.spiderspotter.com!
Aim
Help scientists to study spider evolution in the SPIDER-CITY project! Take spider pictures and investigate spider colour and webs to discover if spiders adapt to living in the city.
Needed equipment
smartphone, laptop
About branding
Profile image design by: An Van Gijsegem
Created April 21, 2020, 9:53 a.m.
Updated Dec. 8, 2021, 10:51 a.m.
