Elucidating the Relationships Between Spider Size, Joint Stiffness, and the Mechanical Frequency Response of the Body

Spiders use vibrations to sense their surroundings. It has been suggested that the vibration perception in spiders may be altered by the mechanics of the body. I studied the biomechanics of spiders, at the level of leg joints and the whole body. To study joints, I quantified the allometry of leg joint stiffness in spiders. I found that the stiffness of spider joints increased nearly isometrically with increasing body mass, partly by having shorter and thicker leg segments and also by other unknown means. Using these data, I developed empirically validated biomechanical models which predicted the effects of mechanics on vibrational filtering within the body. Interestingly, both models and empirical data showed that the relatively linear increase in joint stiffness with mass meant that the mechanical filtering of spider bodies may be size independent, indicating that spiders of different masses or ecologies may sense the world in similar ways.

Name thesis:degree_name

M Sc

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Biology

Grantor dc:publisher

The University of Western Ontario

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Gartly, Reese L

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Mhatre, Natasha

• Vibrations
• vibration transmission
• mechanical filtering
• multi-body modeling
• biomechanics

Language dc:language.iso

en_ca

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14721/37470

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:uwo.scholaris.ca:20.500.14721/37470