Transmission and attenuation of vibration in orb spider webs

Numerous observations indicate that orb spiders react to web-borne vibrations during prey capture, courtship and the rearing of young, but there have been very few analyses of the physics of spider webs undergoing vibration. Using measured or estimated physical properties for spiders and webs from previous literature, we have developed equations that model the response of web-spider systems to signals at various frequencies. Our results indicate that resonance phenomena do not affect signal transmission in most orb webs in the frequency range of sound produced by the wingbeats of most flying insects (about 50–1000 Hz). Above 1000 Hz, individual strands in a web could resonate, but attenuation should prevent significant transmission, at least for transverse vibrations. For signals with frequencies below about 30 Hz, resonant vibrations of the spider or other massive objects within the web could affect transmission significantly.