Substrate-borne noise and its impacts on spider behavior

这个项目将研究人类制造的噪音，这里是道路交通，对动物行为的影响。噪音已被证明是动物的一个重大问题，无论是鸟类、鹿、人类，还是昆虫和蜘蛛等节肢动物。研究人员将研究道路交通噪音对地球上最常见的动物之一——蜘蛛的影响。蜘蛛，作为捕食者，甚至是植物传粉者，在维持健康的生态系统中扮演着重要的角色，几乎没有人知道道路噪音是如何影响它们的。这个项目将探索道路噪音水平与蜘蛛的种类、个体数量和蜘蛛的发现地点之间的关系。该团队还将与国家公园管理局的科学家合作，开发评估国家公园噪音水平的工具。通过实验室实验，研究人员还将研究噪音影响蜘蛛行为的方式，以及不同群体如何根据它们的交流方式，可能或可能无法处理道路噪音交通。在过去的几年中，研究表明全球节肢动物数量迅速下降，该项目对保护具有直接意义。最后，项目组将研究如何有效地向公众推广节肢动物保护。噪音在整个分类群中有多种有害影响，其中大部分是通过行为介导的。研究者将研究噪音，特别是来自基质的噪音对蜘蛛行为的影响。像绝大多数无脊椎动物一样，蜘蛛利用基质传播的振动来指导交配等行为，而人为噪音被认为会干扰这些行为。项目团队将首先测量一个无处不在的噪声源，即道路交通，以绘制现场空气和基材传播的噪声图。接下来，项目团队将对不同物种进行行为研究，这些物种产生声音信号的方式各不相同。项目团队将进行以下研究：(1)噪音如何影响交配行为，(2)调节行为以应对噪音的能力，以及(3)噪音经验如何影响这种能力。关于人为噪音（尤其是来自底物的噪音）会对交配产生负面影响，以及对噪音的反应能力与物种如何产生信号有关的假设将被测试。将实地研究和实验室研究联系起来，将使研究者能够测试一种潜在的机制，这种机制导致节肢动物生物多样性的文献损失，以及这种损失对生物多样性的级联效应。除了这些研究目标之外，项目团队还将(1)与国家公园管理局的科学家合作，建立评估底物传播噪音的工具；(2)通过检查不同利益相关者对无脊椎动物的观点，探索促进无脊椎动物保护的策略；(3)为K-12学生开发利用蜘蛛的宣传和课程材料，旨在教授节肢动物生物学和保护的基本原理。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project will study the impact of human created noise, here road traffic, on animal behavior. Noise has been shown to be a significant problem for animals, whether they be birds, deer, humans, or arthropods like insects and spiders. The investigator will examine the effects of road traffic noise on one of the most common animals on earth, spiders. Spiders, as predators and even plant pollinators, play an important role in maintaining healthy ecosystems and virtually nothing is known about how road noise affects them. This project will explore how road noise levels relate to which species of spider, how many individuals, and the locations where spiders are found. The team will also work with National Park Service scientists to develop tools to estimate noise levels across national parks. Using laboratory experiments, the investigator will also examine the ways that noise affects spider behavior and how different groups, based on how they communicate, may or may not be able to deal with road noise traffic. In the past few years, studies have shown rapid declines in arthropods across the globe and this project has direct implications to conservation. Finally, the project team will study how to effectively promote arthropod conservation to the general public. Noise has multiple deleterious effects across taxa, much of it mediated through behavior. The investigator will examine the effects of noise, particularly substrate-borne noise, on spider behavior. Like the vast majority of invertebrates, spiders use substrate-borne vibrations to guide behaviors such as mating, and anthropogenic noise is hypothesized to interfere with these behaviors. The project team will first measure a ubiquitous noise source, road traffic, to map air- and substrate-borne noise in the field. Next, the project team will conduct behavioral studies with different species that vary in the ways they produce acoustic signals. The project team will conduct studies investigating (1) how noise impacts mating behavior, (2) the ability to modulate behavior in response to noise, and (3) how experience with noise effects this ability. The hypothesis that anthropogenic noise (particularly substrate-borne noise) will negatively impact mating and that the ability to respond to noise is related to how species produce their signals will be tested. Linking field and laboratory studies will allow the investigator to test one potential mechanism driving the documented losses in arthropod biodiversity and the cascading effects of this on biodiversity. In addition to these research goals, the project team will also (1) collaborate with National Park Service scientists to build tools to estimate substrate-borne noise, (2) explore strategies to promote invertebrate conservation by examining the viewpoints of different stakeholders to invertebrates, and (3) develop outreach and curriculum materials for K-12 students using spiders aimed at teaching fundamental principles in arthropod biology and conservation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.