{"id":6728,"date":"2019-07-10T16:13:56","date_gmt":"2019-07-10T20:13:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transy.edu\/1780\/?p=6728"},"modified":"2020-07-14T14:32:44","modified_gmt":"2020-07-14T18:32:44","slug":"transylvania-professor-jumps-into-summer-spider-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transy.edu\/1780\/2019\/07\/transylvania-professor-jumps-into-summer-spider-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Transylvania professor jumps into summer spider research"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Striped lynx spiders native to Kentucky \u2014 and widespread in the region. (They’re found in fields, not people’s homes.) Photo by Laurel Lietzenmayer ’16<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

When James Wagner’s research subjects jump, they’re moving no faster than 1.3 miles per hour \u2014 but he needs a high-speed camera to adequately capture the movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s because these striped lynx spiders are so small \u2014 about the size of your pinkie nail \u2014 that relative to their body size, they’re “like a rocket ship” at that speed, said Wagner, a biology professor at Transylvania University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wagner<\/a>, who recently bought the camera with a grant from the David and Betty Jones Faculty Development Fund, is studying the mechanics of how these iridescent, bronzy arachnids jump \u2014 and why they do so. “This spider has been generally ignored by researchers, which is why I wanted to work on it \u2014 it’s wide open,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a Brown Science Center lab, Wagner set up the camera in front of a spider launching pad (a platform surrounded by water) \u2014 a short distance from a tiny landing branch with leaves. Photographing and shooting video of them them takes patience, considering the field of view is just a few inches, and they have to jump in the right direction. Once the movement is captured, a computer records data such as velocity, acceleration and distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n