Today we're going to discuss an animal that can make wind sails, cast nets, produce its own antifreeze, and is an A-list impersonator. Well, it's not one animal, but a category of animals - spiders!

And my guest today, Dr. Sarah Rose, is here to tell us all about it. Dr. Rose is the author of a spectacular new field guide, Spiders of North America from Princeton University Press, is chair of the American Arachnological Society's Common Names Committee, and has a PhD in Restoration Ecology from The Ohio State University.

Today we discuss Sarah's journey to spiders, including her research into how spiders function as indicator species for habitats and ecosystems. Sarah tells us about the varied lifestyles of spiders, ranging from orb web weavers to sensing web weavers to ambush hunters, and more. We talk about different types of webs, spider guilds, profile some particularly interesting species such as the trash-line orb weaver, bolus spiders, and ant mimicking spiders, and much more.

There is so much more that we could have discussed, so please let me know what else you'd like to hear, and perhaps we can have a part two!

And be sure to check the full show notes on naturesarchive.com for links to what we discussed as well as Sarah's YouTube channel, which has lots of fun spider videos.

FULL SHOW NOTES

Links
All Bugs Go To Kevin - Facebook group
American Arachnological Society
Jack Pine Forests
Lucas the Spider - a YouTube channel with a cute animated jumping spider. 3.5 Million subscribers!
Spider Guilds - Cardoso et al
Spiders of North America, An Identification Manual, by Darrell Ubick (Editor), Pierre Paquin (Editor), Paula Cushing (Editor), Nadine Dupérré (Illustrator)
Spiders of North America, by Dr. Sarah Rose [Princeton University Press | Amazon] 

Note: links to books are affiliate links

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Music: Spellbound by Brian Holtz Music
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist site: https://brianholtzmusic.com

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