Extended spider cognition

HFJ received a visiting professor fellowship from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq - Brazil) (PDE PDE232691/2014-2). Research supported in part by a Grant from the John Templeton Foundation to KNL.There is a tension between the conception of cognition as a central nervous system (CNS) process, and a view of cognition as extending towards the body or the contiguous environment. The centralised conception requires large or complex nervous systems to cope with complex environments. Conversely, the extended conception involves the outsourcing of information processing to the body or environment, thus making fewer demands on the processing power of the CNS. The evolution of extended cognition should be particularly favoured among small, generalist predators such as spiders, and here we review the literature to evaluate the fit of empirical data with these contrasting models of cognition. Spiders do not seem to be cognitively limited, displaying a large diversity of learning processes, from habituation to contextual learning, including a sense of numerosity. To tease apart the central from the extended cognition, we apply the mutual manipulability criterion, testing the existence of reciprocal causal links between the putative elements of the system. We conclude that the web threads and configurations are integral parts of the cognitive systems. The extension of cognition to the web helps to explain some puzzling features of spider behaviour and seems to promote evolvability within the group, enhancing innovation through cognitive connectivity to variable habitat features. Graded changes in relative brain size could also be explained by outsourcing information processing to environmental features. More generally, niche-constructed structures emerge as prime candidates for extending animal cognition, generating the selective pressures that help to shape the evolving cognitive system.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

A simpler way to organize society : response to a risky stimulus is related to the spatial distribution of the individuals within a spider colonial web

Acknowledgments We thank Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) grant (nº 1583297) that supported this work. We also thank all Núcleo de Etologia e Evolução (NuEVo) colleagues that gave insights and precious suggestions to improve the work. We finally thank Rafael Paulino and Sidnei Sampaio for their help during field work.Peer reviewe

Ecological inheritance for a post COVID-19 world

While the 2020 coronavirus pandemic disrupted the global economy and has been controlling the social behavior of the human population (Bavel et al. 2020), it is uncertain if it will mitigate the current biodiversity crisis and help nature to return to a ‘‘healthier’’ state. COVID-19 put billions of humans in isolation worldwide and reduced local and global traffic, indirectly affecting nature in many ways (Corlett et al. 2020; Bates et al. 2020). Given this ‘anthropause’ (Rutz et al. 2020), coronavirus became an ecologically powerful force that can also modify the extinction risks for various non-human species. In the Anthropocene, human activities are driving countless species to extinction (Ceballos et al. 2015). In our globalized world, amphibians in particular have been imperiled by anthropogenic trade, as the spread of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis has endangered hundreds of frog species worldwide (Scheele et al. 2019). Curtailing the spread of a human virus by reducing trade, traffic and human movements, in our opinion, will also protect frogs from this pathogenic fungus (Fig. 1). In addition, it can minimize the chances of spillback of various infectious diseases (Liu 2020), some of them affecting wild and domestic animals worldwide (Roberton et al. 2006).LRF is grateful to the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) for his current post-doctoral fellowshipPeer reviewe

Comunidade de aranhas (Arachnida, Araneae) do pantanal norte (Mato Grosso, Brasil) e sua similaridade com a araneofauna amazônica

Spiders are good study subjects when it comes to the evaluation of animal community organization and of the habitat's influence over it. Nevertheless, the first step to understand the organization of a specific community is to record its species. An inventory of the spider fauna of the headwaters of the Paraguay River basin was carried out using systematic (beating tray and nocturnal transects) and casual samplings. As a result, at least 16 new species, as well as 39 new occurrences for the state of Mato Grosso were recorded. A total of 2114 spiders (602 of them adults), distributed among 206 morphospecies (35 families and 105 genera) were collected. Statistical estimates point towards the existence of a much larger number of spider species (at least 290) in the sampled areas. Together, Araneidae, Theridiidae and Salticidae, the most species rich families (51, 46 and 36 spp., respectively), represent more than 65% of the overall spider richness. A high number of species and a low number of individuals per species characterize community structure, a result that is typical for tropical spider communities. Amazonian influence, as depicted from faunal comparisons between species composition at Pantanal and Legal Amazonia, increases continuously from more southern localities, such as Cáceres (47% amazonian fauna) to northern localities, such as Indiavaí (75%), Reserva do Cabaçal (82%) or Jauru (86%).As aranhas são excelentes objetos de estudo para a avaliação da organização das comunidades animais e da influência do hábitat sobre estas comunidades. Contudo, para o entendimento da organização de uma dada comunidade é preciso o registro dos seus componentes (espécies). Para tanto, foi feito um levantamento das espécies de aranhas na região das cabeceiras da Bacia do Rio Paraguai. Foram realizadas coletas sistemáticas (guarda-chuva entomológico e transecto noturno) e ocasionais. Este esforço de coleta permitiu a descoberta de pelo menos 16 novas espécies, além do registro de 39 novas ocorrências de espécies para o estado do Mato Grosso. Foram coletadas 2114 aranhas (601 adultas), agrupadas em 206 morfoespécies de 35 famílias (sete apenas com indivíduos imaturos) e 105 gêneros, sendo que as estimativas estatísticas apontam para a existência de 290 espécies na área. As famílias mais ricas em espécies foram Araneidae (51 espécies), Theridiidae (46 spp.) e Salticidae (36 spp.), que representam juntas mais de 65% das espécies registradas. A estrutura da comunidade apresenta alto número de espécies e baixo número de indivíduos por espécie, o que é característico de comunidades tropicais de aranhas. Comparando-se a distribuição das espécies no pantanal e na Amazônia Legal, vê-se que a influência amazônica existe já em localidades mais ao sul, como Cáceres (47% fauna amazônica), aumentando progressivamente à medida que se prossegue para o norte (Indiavaí - 75%; Reserva do Cabaçal - 82%; Jauru - 86%).125140Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES