Gone with the wind: What makes a spider fly?

Dispersal shapes the world around us. At local scales it determines the chance that two individuals will meet. Over larger scales it determines species distributions, and the pace and scale of colonisation of new areas. Spiders are able to disperse large distances, carried by the wind on silken sails in a process known as ‘ballooning’. Over evolutionary time frames this behaviour has enabled spiders to be among the first pioneer species to colonise oceanic islands as they arise from the ocean floor. The randomness of which particular spider flies past first may help explain the diversity and uniqueness of spiders to such isolated areas. Over shorter ecological time frames ballooning enables spiders to recolonise a farmer’s field after human farming activity has emptied it of its previous residents. In this talk I will explore some of the factors that lead a spider to making the decision to ‘fly’. I will explore how they are able to do so once the decision is made, and the consequences of their choice for the ecosystems to which they belong.

The seminar will be hosted using Zoom. A Google calendar invite featuring the Zoom link will be sent to Biology staff and students before the seminar date. For all enquiries please contact Biology DMT Hub.