Objective
Spider orb webs are semi-permanent records of foraging behaviour making them ideal to examine the interaction of environmental conditions and behavioural decisions. The spider adjusts the detailed geometry of the web to a wide range of factors in order to tune the primary function of the web, prey-capture, while at the same time ensuring its structural integrity. Here I propose to study how orb spiders adapt their webs to the stability of the environment. Spiders that invest more are expected to be better in tuning web structure to match environmental conditions and are expected to show more complex adjustments in web-geometry to unpredictability than low investment spiders. Four goals will be pursued: (i) Comparative examination of the energetic costs of web-building for three ecribellate and one cribellate orb weaver using rather different web-silk integration. The cost of web-building is known to significantly higher than the material costs. (ii) Analysis of the effect of web costs on the adaptability to prey type and (iii) of the effect of web cost on the adaptability to wind-loading and wind predictability. The geometry of the orb and the web-building behaviour are both expected to depend on the predictability of the environment (iv) The use of finite element models in order to analyse prey impacts and wind-loading both as separate and integrated effects. The results are expected to be of considerable interest for both the design of biomimetically inspired light weight structures and the analysis of animal decision making.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
FP7-PEOPLE-IEF-2008
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Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
OX1 2JD Oxford
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.