Maydianne Andrade

Male black widows will follow chemical cues – pheromones – released by potential female mates, but it was always assumed they would avoid rival males because competition is so fierce.

“We expect males to use female cues to find a potential mate, and use those left by their rivals to avoid them,” says Catherine Scott, a PhD candidate in Professor Maydianne Andrade’s lab at U of T Scarborough and lead author of the study.

“We found male black widows follow rather than avoid rival males, using their silk trails as highways that rapidly lead them to a female’s web, even if they can’t smell the female themselves.”

The western black widow spider is a venomous spider native to large areas of western North America. The life of a male is brutal and short. Mate-searching is risky – only 12 per cent of males survive – and few females are receptive to potential mates each night. The males who survive also risk being cannibalized by much larger females before getting a chance to mate.

Andrade, a renowned expert on the mating habits of cannibalistic widow spiders, says this dual tactic of using female cues and following their rivals appears to benefit males because speed is critical.

“Males are better off competing for the same female instead of risking missing out completely,” she says.

“Courtship can also last for hours, so even if a male isn’t the first to arrive on the web, if he gets there quickly enough he may be able to win the competition to be the first to mate.”

U of T study on redback spiders finds seemingly abhorrent mating strategy appears to benefit both males and females

rasbachn — Tue, 12 Dec 2017 15:57:04 +0000

U of T study on redback spiders finds seemingly abhorrent mating strategy appears to benefit both males and females

rasbachn Tue, 12/12/2017 - 10:57

Cutline

(photo by Ken Jones)

Topic

Breaking Research

Life Sciences

Maydianne Andrade

Research & Innovation

Spiders

U of T Scarborough

A mating strategy among redback spiders where males seek out immature females appears to benefit both sexes, a new ��Ƶ study has found.

“There’s no evidence to suggest this behaviour is costly to females in terms of survivorship and reproductive output,” says Luciana Baruffaldi, post-doctoral researcher and director of the Andrade lab at U of T Scarborough and lead author of the research published in the journal Scientific Reports.

The research builds on past work by the Andrade lab that found some male redback spiders will avoid being cannibalized by mating with immature females that are not experienced in eating their partners. For this study, they wanted to determine whether males mating with immature females was a sign of “coercion” – a male mating tactic that was costly to females.

At least superficially, the behaviour appeared to be against the female’s best interest. For one, males in this case mate with little investment in courtship, mating will sometimes injure females, while females will often attack potential mates, suggesting resistance.

But what they found was that being mated as an immature has no cost to females in terms of reproductive output or survival, and that females mating in this way do not signal for additional mates in the future.

“This early mating may be good for female redback spiders because in nature they’re at risk of not finding a mate at all,” says Baruffaldi.

Luciana Baruffaldi, director of the Andrade lab at U of T Scarborough and lead author of the research published in Scientific Reports (photo by Ken Jones)

Any delays in mating are costly for female redbacks. Not only do they lose out on potential offspring, past research has shown that unmated females have shorter lifespans than mated females, likely the result of having eggs that have to be maintained that can be a drain on their resources.

Redbacks, a species of venomous widow spiders, are one of few arachnids that engage in sexual cannibalism while mating. In fact, males have been observed to actively assist in being cannibalized by doing summersaults to place their abdomen over the adult female’s mouth. In the majority of cases, females will continue to eat the male even while they mate. But this seemingly extreme form of mating also appears to have advantages in terms of reproductive success.

Interested in publicly funded research in Canada? Learn more at U of T’s #supportthereport advocacy campaign

Professor Maydianne Andrade, co-author of the research and Baruffaldi’s thesis supervisor, says the behaviour needs to be considered in terms of its evolutionary consequences.

“When you study evolutionary ecology, there’s a temptation to ascribe human characteristics or judgments on the behaviour being observed,” says Andrade, a world-renowned expert on the mating habits of cannibalistic spiders.

“What we’re seeing could have more than one evolutionary implication, and even if it looks abhorrent to us, the evolutionary consequence can be positive for the animal engaging in that behaviour.”

Andrade says if we want to think about why a particular set of behaviours has evolved, the underlying question is how it may affect the reproductive success of the animal doing it.

“That’s the evolutionary currency – what’s playing out over time is the number of gene copies left behind in offspring,” she says.

Read the fully study in the journal Scientific Reports

“If there’s a behaviour that increases how many gene copies are left, this means more offspring showing the same traits as their parents, and that’s the behaviour we expect to see.”

The study received funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI), and the Canada Research Chairs Program.

Recluse or not? Citizen science project looks to the public for help in gathering data on much maligned spider

rasbachn — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 16:28:29 +0000

Recluse or not? Citizen science project looks to the public for help in gathering data on much maligned spider

rasbachn Thu, 10/12/2017 - 12:28

Cutline

"Recluse or Not?" aims to educate the public about the recluse spider while also gathering more information about where they can be found and to identify those spiders often mistaken for a brown recluse (photo by Sean McCann)

Don Campbell

Topic

Our Community

Faculty of Arts & Science

Maydianne Andrade

U of T Scarborough

A new citizen science project co-founded by a ��Ƶ researcher is harnessing the power of social media to dispel some common myths about a much-maligned spider.

“We’re looking for people to post photos of any spider that they think is a brown recluse,” says Catherine Scott, a PhD student in Professor Maydianne Andrade’s lab at U of T Scarborough.

Started by three entomologists including Scott, Recluse or Not? aims to educate the public about the recluse spider while also gathering more information about where they can be found and to identify those spiders often mistaken for a brown recluse.

“It’s important to know if populations are popping up outside of their native range, but also offer reliable information to help people identify the often-harmless spiders they may come across and end up killing,” she says.

Scott (left) was motivated to start the project more than a year ago, saying there’s an abundance of poor information online, particularly about brown recluse bites. There is also a myth that the spider is common in Canada.

Inspired by a social media project started by ecology professor David Steen for copperhead and cottonmouth snakes, Scott borrowed the idea with Steen’s permission. She began searching Twitter for photos that people were posting of what they thought were brown recluse spiders, using the hashtags #NotARecluse or #ReallyRecluse.

Entomologists Dr. Matt Bertone and Dr. Eleanor Spicer Rice approached Scott last month about expanding her effort into a citizen science project where people could provide data on where they are finding brown recluse spiders across North America. Together they recently started the @RecluseOrNot Twitter account, inspired by ecologist Dr. Michelle LaRue’s #CougarOrNot hashtag.

One goal of the project is to collect data on genetic differences between indoor and outdoor brown recluse spiders. Sample specimens will be sent to Bertone, who is part of a team doing DNA analysis to understand the differences between the two and the movement of these spiders.

Brown recluse spiders have a bad reputation because their bites can occasionally be dangerous. But bites are rare, even in areas where the spider is common, and more than 90 per cent are not serious and don’t require medical intervention. Only a handful of people have ever died from a recluse bite, notes Scott.

“People like to blame spiders for mystery bites even though the more likely culprits are ticks, mites, mosquitos, bed bugs and fleas, which are all arthropods that feed on human blood. Spiders on the other hand do not feed on blood, have no reason to bite humans, so bites are very rare,” she says.

In fact, the brown recluse is not aggressive and will only bite if it’s being defensive, like if one gets stuck in your clothing or if you reach into a dark corner. Scott says it’s important the public understand this because a misdiagnosed brown recluse bite could be hiding a more serious health concern. She adds many conditions can be mistaken for recluse bites including MRSA, Lyme disease, and even some cancers.

There are 11 species of recluse spiders in North America, but only brown recluses are found in homes. In fact, the brown recluse is particularly adept at living with humans and can be found living mostly in homes throughout the much of the central United States.

There have only been four recorded specimens of recluse spiders ever recovered in Canada – none of them a brown recluse and all hitchhikers from far away – with the most recent being found in 2007. Yet there’s a persistent myth that the spiders are in Canada and that people are being bitten, including recent media coverage.

“One of my main motivations in doing this as a Canadian is that pretty much everyone I have talked to knows someone who claims to have been bitten by a brown recluse,” she says. “I highly doubt it’s true, since there’s no evidence of brown recluse spiders being in Canada, and even where they are common, bites are very rare.”

One spider that commonly gets mistaken for a brown recluse in Canada is the hobo spider, which is found in areas of British Columbia. But, as Scott notes, pretty much any spider that’s brown is often mistaken for a brown recluse.

“I’m looking forward to people posting their photos of what they think are brown recluses, and as a scientist I’m happy to be proven wrong with evidence that they occur in Canada,” she says. “I just strongly doubt that will happen.”

From super flies to chimps, international animal behaviour conference at U of T next week

ullahnor — Fri, 09 Jun 2017 20:48:15 +0000

From super flies to chimps, international animal behaviour conference at U of T next week

ullahnor Fri, 06/09/2017 - 16:48

Cutline

Baby gorilla rides on mother's back. A conference at U of T Scarborough next week looks at research into all kinds of animal behaviour (photo by Smithsonian's National Zoo via Flickr)

Megan Easton

Author legacy

Megan Easton

Topic

Are you fan of Animal Planet? Can't get enough of the Discovery Channel?

More than 750 experts in animal behaviour from across the globe – leading researchers from North America, South America, Australia, New Zealand and Europe – gather at U of T Scarborough next week for a conference that probes all aspects of why animals do what they do.

The 54th annual conference of the Animal Behavior Society, will be hosted June 12 to 16 by Professor Maydianne Andrade and Professor Andrew Mason of the department of biological sciences.

“Our larger goal is to put U of T Scarborough on the map for animal behaviour,” says Andrade.

The breadth of high-profile researchers attending and presenting at the conference has attracted significant media attention from science journalists. The Discovery Channel will be on campus all week doing interviews, among other TV and radio outlets.

The Animal Behavior Society has ensured that students will also get the rare opportunity to hear from world-class scientists, offering a reduced registration fee to graduate students and a special program for undergraduates.

About 60 elementary school students are invited to the “Adventures in Animal Behaviour” outreach fair on Monday, and there are 100 tickets to the animal behaviour film festival on Tuesday evening reserved for students and the public (priced at just $5).

The Animal Behavior Society, founded in 1964, promotes the study of animal behaviour in the broadest sense. Members’ research areas span the invertebrates and vertebrates, both in the field and the lab, and include experimental psychology, behavioral ecology, neuroscience, zoology, biology, applied ethology, human ethology as well as many other specialized areas.

Meet U of T Scarborough's new vice-dean, faculty affairs & equity

ullahnor — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 21:30:12 +0000

Meet U of T Scarborough's new vice-dean, faculty affairs & equity

ullahnor Mon, 01/16/2017 - 16:30

Don Campbell

Author legacy

Don Campbell

Topic

Subheadline

Professor Maydianne Andrade is known for her research on the mating habits of cannibalistic spiders

Professor Maydianne Andrade is meticulous in her research on the mating habits of cannibalistic spiders. Like any renowned scientist, she lets the data do the talking.

In her new role as U of T Scarborough's vice-dean, faculty affairs & equity, she plans on doing much of the same. Her plan is to take a data driven approach to figuring out ways U of T Scarborough can do a better job in hiring, developing and promoting its faculty while also ensuring these processes maximize transparency and minimize the unintended effects of unconscious bias.

Andrade, who began her new role on Jan. 1 spoke to U of T's Don Campbell about being a black woman in academia, her priorities, and what she’s looking forward to most in the new position.

Read about U of T's efforts on gender and racial equity

You’ve already had a distinguished career as a researcher, but what attracted you to this role in particular?

From the first day I walked into my office as a new faculty member, being a black woman in this position meant I was unusual.

I was asked many times to give talks about being a woman and visible minority in academia, as well as about equity and diversity. I always said no because I felt it wasn’t in my area of expertise. As I advanced in my career that changed, especially after becoming a Canada Research Chair. It became clear to me that although people are trying to change things for the better, change is happening very slowly, if at all. I became very interested in the literature on challenges to equity and representation.

Read about her research

From reading the literature I was surprised at the magnitude of the effect of unconscious bias on our ability to judge each other fairly. I had heard about bias before, but usually in a descriptive way and with a focus on the individual experiences of those who are directly affected. It is important to understand this perspective, but I think it’s important for people to also understand that the overall effect is measurable, serious and can have a significant effect on how our institutions function.

About six years ago, I started saying yes and began giving talks about just how strong these effects are, and how they can manifest in our everyday working lives. I have found people surprisingly receptive. It’s like bias was the elephant in the room. Once it’s named – and it’s clear that we all have biases – the focus can shift to one that is proactive and positive.

Hear her talk about unconscious bias

What will this new role entail?

I will be helping with the mechanistic aspects of faculty hiring and promotion. This will include overseeing procedural aspects of faculty searches, appointments, tenure and promotion but also providing tools that will help with these processes. The more innovative side is fostering development opportunities for our faculty. This will start with recruitment – working to broaden our applicant pools, making it clear why UTSC is a fantastic place to be and ensuring that people have the right mentorship and support once they are here. Much of this will need to be data-driven so I will need to get a complete picture of our faculty, the challenges and aspirations they have and what barriers they may face in career advancement.

The role also supports UTSC’s aspiration to increase the diversity of people working here and making sure there’s a climate that they are happy to work in and where they will flourish. Achieving this will require taking some lessons from the literature on unconscious bias and ensuring our search and promotion procedures are fair and equitable.

Even though we tend to focus on race and gender, clearly there is a wider range of diversity that we wish to have represented here. Unfortunately, there may be a similar diversity of unrecognized biases that cannot be anticipated. The key then is to ensure fair, transparent processes and that everyone understands that this goal is at the heart of the procedures we follow.

What will be your first priorities?

First of all, I hope to develop pragmatic tools that will help departments in a discipline-specific way to increase the diversity of applicants they are considering. I will also provide the information needed to make it easier to hold a transparent search that avoids unintended biases.

Second, I really want to tackle mentorship and support for all faculty who are already here.

There is considerable data showing that mentorship can increase career satisfaction, productivity, and progress. While most departments at UTSC have some sort of mentorship policy, all may not be effective. On top of that, Professor Myrna Simpson proposed an idea that I really like and that is creating a cross-discipline mentorship network. Sometimes, someone from another department at a slightly more advanced career stage can offer great advice. This effort will start by inviting faculty to tell me what they think would be most effective and working from there.

What are you most looking forward to in this role?

I think the potential to make real and positive change. I’m really looking forward to meeting with different departments and getting to know their cultures. I want to visit them as soon as possible now that the new term has started. I need to know about their plans, their expectations and challenges.

Although I know UTSC and the larger university culture very well, I do feel like I exist in a bubble in terms of research and teaching aspirations. I spend a lot of time with my students and we all like spiders (laughs), or I spend a lot of time with other biologists, who are also a unique lot (laughs again). It will no doubt be a learning experience. I don’t expect to get it right all the time right away, but I promise to learn from the process and from those I meet. I’m looking forward to making connections and seeing how I can shape structures that will help.

There have been notable examples recently of misogyny, racism, and homophobia in North America. There’s also been a bit of a mainstream backlash against the perceived overreach of political correctness. How do you view your role given the current climate?

I would say that is part of the reason I was interested in the role. I think giving prominence to equity is important in the current climate. In academia, we really do live in a bubble, but even within this bubble, there are challenges to equity coming from a variety of directions.

I think we need to emphasize fairness, particularly at a time when more people are finding it easier to say they don’t support fairness in society. Certain people have been open about saying certain groups can and should be excluded from being treated fairly. We need to be equally firm in asserting our core values. I use bullying as an example. Now it’s widely regarded as abhorrent and rightly so. But when I was younger, bullies were common at school and hardly spoken about negatively. In one generation it has become totally unacceptable.

Unfortunately, that goes both ways. If we don’t find some way to adjust the conversation, I’m afraid the ugliness we’re seeing now will only get worse.

What do like most about working at the university?

Since I started here it’s the only place I’ve ever wanted to be. The university is an amazing place.

The students at UTSC are spectacular. They’re interested. They come from diverse backgrounds, are respectful of others, and on the whole I feel we’re respectful to them in return, even while challenging them to think about things in new ways. I truly believe we’re a community that is more interested in meeting and talking out differences rather than fighting. I think UTSC can make positive changes, and not just these end points, but the process in getting there can be positive as well.

How do male black widow spiders find a mate? Competition is "extremely fierce," U of T researcher says

lavende4 — Tue, 18 Oct 2016 14:46:41 +0000

How do male black widow spiders find a mate? Competition is "extremely fierce," U of T researcher says

lavende4 Tue, 10/18/2016 - 10:46

Cutline

(All photos by Sean McCann)

Don Campbell

Author legacy

Don Campbell

Topic

The life of a male black widow spider isn’t easy.

Not only do they make perilously long journeys to find a mate – avoiding rival males along the way – but once they find a possible mate, there’s a risk of being eaten alive.

So how do male black widow spiders, without the aid of good sight or hearing, find their mates across great distances? It’s a question that Catherine Scott, a PhD candidate in Professor Maydianne Andrade’s lab at ��Ƶ Scarborough, intends to answer.

“Competition among male black widows is extremely fierce,” she says.

“One experiment we ran found that as many as 40 males arrive at a female’s web in just one night. We want to find out how these spiders use chemical cues produced by their rivals to gain a competitive advantage in everything from the timing of their development to their ability to locate a potential mate.”

Recent research in Andrade’s lab found that some male black widow spiders can mate with immature females, which may allow them to mate more quickly and more often. But little is known about how males find these females, Scott notes.

“There is still so much to learn about these spiders, and fieldwork is crucial for making new discoveries while also supporting or challenging what we know from lab experiments,” she says.

In order to successfully complete her research, Scott needs to go back into the field and conduct experiments at the right time of the year. But that's not as simple as it sounds.

“It’s simply not safe to be alone in the field conducting research on black widow spiders at night because they’re venomous,” says Andrade.

One solution would be to hire an assistant. The research is being supported by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) grant, Andrade says, but since the grant is late in its five-year cycle, there are limited ways to come up with new funds to pay for a research assistant. So she started a crowd-funding campaign and is looking to the public for support.

While the immediate goal of the research is to see how the male spiders use chemical cues to avoid or succeed in competing with rival males, the research could also have important practical applications. The findings could help in developing a pesticide-free way to control black widow spiders, an important outcome since their venom is neurotoxic to humans.

Those who contribute to the campaign, which has a $6,000 goal, can follow the project with regular updates and photos from the field, and will see how their contribution is making a difference in the research. The public has already responded strongly – the campaign reached more than 50 per cent of its target in a little more than a week.

“This is an exciting new way to get those interested in science to support and become engaged in our work,” says Scott.

When choosing a mate is literally (yes, literally) a matter of life and death

sgupta — Fri, 13 Feb 2015 09:43:03 +0000

When choosing a mate is literally (yes, literally) a matter of life and death sgupta Fri, 02/13/2015 - 04:43

Cutline

"In a species where there is no risk from sexual cannibalism, males are not choosy." says PhD student Luciana Baruffaldi (all photos by Ken Jones)

Don Campbell

Author legacy

Don Campbell

Topic

Breaking Research

Picky male black widow spiders prefer well-fed virgins

sgupta — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 12:10:59 +0000

Picky male black widow spiders prefer well-fed virgins sgupta Tue, 04/22/2014 - 08:10

Cutline

(all photos by Ken Jones)

Don Campbell

Author legacy

Don Campbell

Topic

Maydianne Andrade

Male black widow spiders piggyback on the work of their rivals to find female mates faster: U of T study

Read more about Maydianne Andrade

U of T study on redback spiders finds seemingly abhorrent mating strategy appears to benefit both males and females

Interested in publicly funded research in Canada? Learn more at U of T’s #supportthereport advocacy campaign

Read more about U of T's Maydianne Andrade and her lab

Read the fully study in the journal Scientific Reports

Recluse or not? Citizen science project looks to the public for help in gathering data on much maligned spider

From super flies to chimps, international animal behaviour conference at U of T next week

Meet U of T Scarborough's new vice-dean, faculty affairs & equity

Read about U of T's efforts on gender and racial equity

Read about her research

Hear her talk about unconscious bias

How do male black widow spiders find a mate? Competition is "extremely fierce," U of T researcher says

When choosing a mate is literally (yes, literally) a matter of life and death

Picky male black widow spiders prefer well-fed virgins