Dr. Erin Brandt
@arachnogal.bsky.social
Postdoc studying spider locomotion at U Chicago with Jasmine Nirody. Interested in sexual selection, biomechanics, thermal ecology, and the tradeoffs between them. Spreading spider love figuratively and literally!
Huh, that is both alarming and interesting. I've definitely said my (very much captive-bred) ball python probably couldn't survive in the wild due to being a pampered house-snake. But arguing that about a spider is...wild.
April 3, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Huh, that is both alarming and interesting. I've definitely said my (very much captive-bred) ball python probably couldn't survive in the wild due to being a pampered house-snake. But arguing that about a spider is...wild.
The "dangerous situations" being...the wild?
April 3, 2025 at 5:55 PM
The "dangerous situations" being...the wild?
Really nice image! I have a pinned box full of those flies. Very far on the backburner is a project to write up which species I found them in! Apparently we found a couple novel hosts for this species. We should chat at some point about maybe joining forces!
February 27, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Really nice image! I have a pinned box full of those flies. Very far on the backburner is a project to write up which species I found them in! Apparently we found a couple novel hosts for this species. We should chat at some point about maybe joining forces!
Yes please! That is gorgeous!
January 9, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Yes please! That is gorgeous!
Holy crow! What spider species is this?
January 7, 2025 at 4:43 AM
Holy crow! What spider species is this?
I've been hesitating on knitting my first sweater, but this one looks worth the effort! Beautiful work!
December 9, 2024 at 10:21 PM
I've been hesitating on knitting my first sweater, but this one looks worth the effort! Beautiful work!
Salticid behaviorist/biomechanist at your service!
November 26, 2024 at 9:21 PM
Salticid behaviorist/biomechanist at your service!
We've been calling it an "acoustic aid", since the definition of "tool" is pretty specific. But that's the gist!
November 7, 2023 at 10:12 PM
We've been calling it an "acoustic aid", since the definition of "tool" is pretty specific. But that's the gist!
Again, big thanks and congrats to my co-authors Natasha Mhatre @natashamhatre.bsky.social
Sarah Duke and Linda Wang. I may follow up with another thread about the process of data collection for this project. It was a truly heroic effort by our dedicated students!
Sarah Duke and Linda Wang. I may follow up with another thread about the process of data collection for this project. It was a truly heroic effort by our dedicated students!
November 7, 2023 at 9:05 PM
Again, big thanks and congrats to my co-authors Natasha Mhatre @natashamhatre.bsky.social
Sarah Duke and Linda Wang. I may follow up with another thread about the process of data collection for this project. It was a truly heroic effort by our dedicated students!
Sarah Duke and Linda Wang. I may follow up with another thread about the process of data collection for this project. It was a truly heroic effort by our dedicated students!
At the end of the day, our pandemic-era work-from-home modelling project about crickets made us rethink something fundamental about acoustic ecology. We're thrilled by the new questions, hypotheses, and avenues of research now open to us.
November 7, 2023 at 9:04 PM
At the end of the day, our pandemic-era work-from-home modelling project about crickets made us rethink something fundamental about acoustic ecology. We're thrilled by the new questions, hypotheses, and avenues of research now open to us.
Why was this missed for so long? Animal acoustics research has focused on sound propagation by comparing sound levels across distance. Our work focuses on the relationship between calling effort (vibrational velocity) to sound output. The gains that we found happen at a stage before propagation.
November 7, 2023 at 9:04 PM
Why was this missed for so long? Animal acoustics research has focused on sound propagation by comparing sound levels across distance. Our work focuses on the relationship between calling effort (vibrational velocity) to sound output. The gains that we found happen at a stage before propagation.
Acoustics theory from as far back as the 50s actually suggests that a hard surface can indeed increase sound radiation efficiency. This should also be true for dipoles (wings moving back and forth like crickets) and monoples (making sound from a voicebox, like wolves and frogs)
November 7, 2023 at 9:02 PM
Acoustics theory from as far back as the 50s actually suggests that a hard surface can indeed increase sound radiation efficiency. This should also be true for dipoles (wings moving back and forth like crickets) and monoples (making sound from a voicebox, like wolves and frogs)
This is surprising! “Ground = good” is not the prevailing idea in the world of animal communication. The ground is usually thought to be an impediment. So this got us thinking, could “ground = good” be true for *all* singing animals?
November 7, 2023 at 9:01 PM
This is surprising! “Ground = good” is not the prevailing idea in the world of animal communication. The ground is usually thought to be an impediment. So this got us thinking, could “ground = good” be true for *all* singing animals?
But things get interesting looking at ground callers. Gryllus veletis is a field cricket that we know calls from the ground. Sure enough, this species stands to gain more efficiency from singing on the ground as they would from using a baffle.
November 7, 2023 at 9:01 PM
But things get interesting looking at ground callers. Gryllus veletis is a field cricket that we know calls from the ground. Sure enough, this species stands to gain more efficiency from singing on the ground as they would from using a baffle.
First, let’s look at Oecanthus henryi, a famous baffle-builder that we know stands to gain a lot of efficiency from baffle use. Sure enough, our models suggest that they would do much better with a baffle than calling from the ground.
November 7, 2023 at 9:00 PM
First, let’s look at Oecanthus henryi, a famous baffle-builder that we know stands to gain a lot of efficiency from baffle use. Sure enough, our models suggest that they would do much better with a baffle than calling from the ground.
If calling from the ground can increase efficiency, let’s answer our original question: does the calling environment provide alternatives to baffling that are equal or better than baffling? Let’s look at a couple examples:
November 7, 2023 at 8:59 PM
If calling from the ground can increase efficiency, let’s answer our original question: does the calling environment provide alternatives to baffling that are equal or better than baffling? Let’s look at a couple examples:
Calling from the ground seems to have higher efficiencies overall. We didn’t expect this!
November 7, 2023 at 8:58 PM
Calling from the ground seems to have higher efficiencies overall. We didn’t expect this!
Being 1m off the ground is almost identical to open air. Things get messier calling from the ground. Instead of smooth, broad peaks and valleys, we see small, choppy features. The "ground effect" is thought to impede females in localizing mates BUT…
November 7, 2023 at 8:58 PM
Being 1m off the ground is almost identical to open air. Things get messier calling from the ground. Instead of smooth, broad peaks and valleys, we see small, choppy features. The "ground effect" is thought to impede females in localizing mates BUT…
What we ended up with, is…well, a *lot* of data. Specifically a bunch of landscapes of efficiency across the acoustic-morphospace for different scenarios. See the paper for the full story, but here are some highlights...
November 7, 2023 at 8:56 PM
What we ended up with, is…well, a *lot* of data. Specifically a bunch of landscapes of efficiency across the acoustic-morphospace for different scenarios. See the paper for the full story, but here are some highlights...
To make the models more realistic, we used boundary element modeling to add a ground. We varied caller height above the ground (0, 0.05, 0.5, and 1 m). We ran these models for our entire acoustic morphospace: 0.4mm^2 to 4000 mm^2 and 500 Hz to 10000 Hz. That’s a total of 5304 different combinations.
November 7, 2023 at 8:55 PM
To make the models more realistic, we used boundary element modeling to add a ground. We varied caller height above the ground (0, 0.05, 0.5, and 1 m). We ran these models for our entire acoustic morphospace: 0.4mm^2 to 4000 mm^2 and 500 Hz to 10000 Hz. That’s a total of 5304 different combinations.
Lo and behold, all measured crickets would gain efficiency with a baffle. The red line shows the optimal radiator size for every frequency of call (equivalent to using a baffle). The entire cricket acoustic-morphospace is left of the line! But this is under ideal conditions...
November 7, 2023 at 8:53 PM
Lo and behold, all measured crickets would gain efficiency with a baffle. The red line shows the optimal radiator size for every frequency of call (equivalent to using a baffle). The entire cricket acoustic-morphospace is left of the line! But this is under ideal conditions...