Predator upon a Flower
Life History and Fitness in a Crab Spider
Seiten
2007
Harvard University Press (Verlag)
978-0-674-02480-9 (ISBN)
Harvard University Press (Verlag)
978-0-674-02480-9 (ISBN)
The crab spider is an ideal species on which to test basic questions of lifetime fitness, but ecologists had previously lacked experimental data needed to comprehensively test individuals making foraging decisions. This book recounts Morse's influential experimental discoveries, moving from individuals to communities to ecosystems.
In the crab spider, Misumena vatia, Douglass H. Morse and his colleagues found an ideal species on which to test basic questions associated with lifetime fitness. From the moment a female crab spider selects a flower on which to sit and wait for her prey, there unfolds a cascade of lifetime fitness variables that determine her evolutionary success. Did she choose a flower that attracts suitable prey? Will she encounter a competitor or predator? Will she survive long enough to breed, and will her offspring contribute to the gene pool? Ecologists had previously identified variables that shape populations, but lacked the experimental data needed to make comprehensive tests of individuals that made different foraging decisions. Morse found that Misumena is particularly well suited to both field study and laboratory experiments. Over the last 25 years, his simple yet elegant experiments have contributed to our understanding of lifetime fitness and helped to develop study techniques that can be applied to animals with other, more complex, life histories. Predator upon a Flower recounts these influential discoveries in a gracefully crafted narrative that moves ever outward from individuals to communities to ecosystems, and concludes by suggesting directions for future research in spider biology.
In the crab spider, Misumena vatia, Douglass H. Morse and his colleagues found an ideal species on which to test basic questions associated with lifetime fitness. From the moment a female crab spider selects a flower on which to sit and wait for her prey, there unfolds a cascade of lifetime fitness variables that determine her evolutionary success. Did she choose a flower that attracts suitable prey? Will she encounter a competitor or predator? Will she survive long enough to breed, and will her offspring contribute to the gene pool? Ecologists had previously identified variables that shape populations, but lacked the experimental data needed to make comprehensive tests of individuals that made different foraging decisions. Morse found that Misumena is particularly well suited to both field study and laboratory experiments. Over the last 25 years, his simple yet elegant experiments have contributed to our understanding of lifetime fitness and helped to develop study techniques that can be applied to animals with other, more complex, life histories. Predator upon a Flower recounts these influential discoveries in a gracefully crafted narrative that moves ever outward from individuals to communities to ecosystems, and concludes by suggesting directions for future research in spider biology.
Douglass H. Morse is Hermon Carey Bumpus Professor of Biology, Brown University.
1. Introduction 2. Some Basic Biology 3. Foraging Strategies 4. Fitness Payoffs 5. Constraints on Success 6. Experience, Learning, and Innate Behavior 7. Some Sensory Aspects of Substrate Choice 8. Morphological Variation 9. Male-female Interactions 10. Misumena as Part of the Community 11. Xysticus emertoni, a Cohabiting Crab Spider 12. Conclusions and Future Directions References Index
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 1.7.2007 |
|---|---|
| Zusatzinfo | 49 line illustrations |
| Verlagsort | Cambridge, Mass |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 156 x 235 mm |
| Themenwelt | Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Zoologie |
| ISBN-10 | 0-674-02480-X / 067402480X |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0-674-02480-9 / 9780674024809 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
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