New Model Explaining Spiders Travelling Epic Distances


	New Model Explaining Spiders Travelling Epic Distances

knslyr

7-13-2006 11:53 AM

370 views

tags:

spiders, silk, travel, journey, epic, new scientist, parachute

knslyr says:

Spiders are fantastic creatures!

1 Comment |

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7-13-2006 12:28 PM

adamc

they are often the first species to colonise new volcanic islands, sometimes isolated from other land by as much as 200 miles.

I've always been slightly afraid of spiders (mainly big ones) but I find them incredibly fascinating.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/c9f5b5e6-d74a-405c-84f8-4b650dbba2ae/D23F461C-9D13-490C-A2D4-6EE631D7041A/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn9536&feedId=online-news_rss20" href="http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn9536&feedId=online-news_rss20" style="font-size: 11px;">www.newscientist.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn9536&feedId=online-news_rss20"><P>Spiders use simple parachutes to ride the wind wherever it may take them. The tiny creatures, weighing only a few milligrams, typically crawl up to the edge of a blade of grass, stick their backside in the air and release a thin line of silk, like that used to build their webs. </P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn9536&feedId=online-news_rss20"><P>This “dragline silk” is so fine that it encounters an unusual amount of air friction and, as a result, it acts like a parachute. Each gust of wind can pull the spiders, such as <I>Erigone atra</I> and <I>Tenuiphantes tenius</I>, further into the air.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn9536&feedId=online-news_rss20"><P>Researchers previously used mathematical models to estimate how far the spiders could travel using dragline silk. But these simulations could not explain the long distances spiders can travel: they are often the first species to colonise new volcanic islands, sometimes isolated from other land by as much as 200 miles. </P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/D23F461C-9D13-490C-A2D4-6EE631D7041A/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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