Aerodynamics and the role of the earth’s electric field in the spiders’ ballooning flight

Cho, Moonsung

doi:10.1007/s00359-021-01474-6

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 97 publications

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“…Many spiders engage in random dispersal through ballooning either as adults (if small spiders) or in the early juvenile stages. This involves releasing silk threads into the wind, where a combination of electric and aerodynamic forces lift the spider into the air and potentially disperse it over long distances [ 109 , 110 ]. Ballooning is common in web-building spiders (e.g., [ 111 , 112 , 113 , 114 ]).…”

Section: How Might Spiders Identify and Locate Their Host Plant?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Host Plant Specificity in Web-Building Spiders

Hesselberg

Boyd

Styrsky

et al. 2023

Insects

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Spiders are ubiquitous generalist predators playing an important role in regulating insect populations in many ecosystems. Traditionally they have not been thought to have strong influences on, or interactions with plants. However, this is slowly changing as several species of cursorial spiders have been reported engaging in either herbivory or inhabiting only one, or a handful of related plant species. In this review paper, we focus on web-building spiders on which very little information is available. We only find well-documented evidence from studies of host plant specificity in orb spiders in the genus Eustala, which are associated with specific species of swollen thorn acacias. We review what little is known of this group in the context of spider–plant interactions generally, and focus on how these interactions are established and maintained while providing suggestions on how spiders may locate and identify specific species of plants. Finally, we suggest ideas for future fruitful research aimed at understanding how web-building spiders find and utilise specific plant hosts.

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Section: How Might Spiders Identify and Locate Their Host Plant?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Host Plant Specificity in Web-Building Spiders

Hesselberg

Boyd

Styrsky

et al. 2023

Insects

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“…It is assumed that these rising currents create drag forces on the light spider threads which induce lift forces when they overcome the weight of the spider. This hypothesis was extensively studied by several authors [7,[10][11][12][13]. For instance, Zhao et al [14] used a fully coupled fluid-structure interaction twodimensional numerical model with the immersed boundary method (IBM) to analyze the effect of spider mass and thread length on the ballooning dynamics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This fact was not captured earlier by Humphrey [10] who modeled the spider thread by rigid inextensible massless cylindrical rod aligned with the wind direction. Meanwhile, the effect of the electric charge of spider silk threads [18] on the thread unfolding dynamics is not included in these aforementioned studies [13]. This electric charge may induce Coulomb repelling forces which can have an important role in keeping the threads apart to avoid entanglement which may explain the three-dimensional conical sheet shape of the silk threads.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Meanwhile, in all these studies, there is no investigation on multi-thread spider ballooning process neither on the effect of the electrostatic repelling force on the terminal shape of the threads and the ballooning velocity [13]. Thus, in the current paper we develop a new three-dimensional numerical model including the viscous forces, weight and dimensions of the thread and spider, electrostatic lift force and repelling forces and the elastic bending force to explore the ballooning and unfolding dynamics of spider silk threads.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ballooning in Spiders using Multiple Silk Threads

Habchi,

Jawed

2021

Preprint

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In this paper, three-dimensional numerical simulations of ballooning in spiders using multiple silk threads are performed using the discrete elastic rods method. The ballooning of spiders is hypothesised to be caused by the presence of the negative electric charge of the spider silk threads and the positive electric potential field in the earth's atmosphere. The numerical model presented here is first validated against experimental data from the open literature. After which, two cases are examined, in the first it is assumed that the electric charge is uniformly distributed along the threads while in the second, the electric charge is located at the thread tip. It is shown that the normalized terminal ballooning velocity, i.e. the velocity at which the spiders balloon after they reach steadystate, decrease linearly with the normalized lift force, especially for the tip located charge case. For the uniform electric charge case, this velocity shows a slightly weaker dependence on the normalized lift force. Moreover, it is shown in both cases that the normalized terminal ballooning velocity has no dependence on the normalized elastic bending stiffness of the threads and on the normalized viscous forces. Finally, the multi-thread bending process shows a three-dimensional conical sheet.Here we show that this behavior is caused by the Coulomb repelling forces owing to the threads electric charge which leads to dispersing the threads apart and thus avoid entanglement.

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Locomotion and kinematics of arachnids

Wolff

2021

J Comp Physiol A

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A basic feature of animals is the capability to move and disperse. Arachnids are one of the oldest lineages of terrestrial animals and characterized by an octopodal locomotor apparatus with hydraulic limb extension. Their locomotion repertoire includes running, climbing, jumping, but also swimming, diving, abseiling, rolling, gliding and -passively- even flying. Studying the unique locomotor functions and movement ecology of arachnids is important for an integrative understanding of the ecology and evolution of this diverse and ubiquitous animal group. Beyond biology, arachnid locomotion is inspiring robotic engineers. The aim of this special issue is to display the state of the interdisciplinary research on arachnid locomotion, linking physiology and biomechanics with ecology, ethology and evolutionary biology. It comprises five reviews and ten original research reports covering diverse topics, ranging from the neurophysiology of arachnid movement, the allometry and sexual dimorphism of running kinematics, the effect of autotomy or heavy body parts on locomotor efficiency, and the evolution of silk-spinning choreography, to the biophysics of ballooning and ballistic webs. This closes a significant gap in the literature on animal biomechanics.

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Aerodynamics and the role of the earth’s electric field in the spiders’ ballooning flight

Cited by 6 publications

References 97 publications

Host Plant Specificity in Web-Building Spiders

Host Plant Specificity in Web-Building Spiders

Ballooning in Spiders using Multiple Silk Threads

Locomotion and kinematics of arachnids

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