Speaker
Description
Arthropods possess a variety of novel senses to acquire environmental and biotic cues, with recent research reveals the possibility for arthropods to detect and respond to naturally occurring electrical fields. In this talk, I will present a suite experiments and models that show the role that this electrical sense plays in the sensory life and ecology of terrestrial arthropods. Our latest results reveal how the mechanism of charging fundamentally changes the biomechanics of arthropod electrical sensing in spiders, caterpillars and treehoppers, revealing new sensory niches for this modality due to electrostatic polarisation and induction. Hence, we will discuss (i) the biophysical mechanisms that enable this electrosense, (ii) the typical electrical signals experienced in nature, and (iii) the possible effect of electrical fields on other senses and behaviours. Here, I will touch on several of these aspects, giving an overview of our knowledge to date, but also the enticing scientific and mathematical problems that remain.
