abstract/intro pp

The aim of this experiment was to test the effects of temperature on spider web production for the species Pholcus phalangioides. We had hypothesized that the warmer the temperature a spider occupied, the denser the web it would create. During this experiment, spiders were placed in 3 environments set at different temperatures. The control enclosure was kept at 19℃, the warm enclosure was kept at 26℃, and a cool enclosure was kept at 11℃. For the control and cool conditions, the spiders were placed in a plastic cup which was enclosed in a Styrofoam box; the cool condition had a layer of ice underneath the plastic cup with a cardboard barrier to achieve the cool temperature. The spiders in the heated condition were kept in plastic cups that were placed under a heat lamp. Two spiders for each condition were observed for four days; the spider web enclosures were weighed on the final day in order to measure spider web production. Following the data collection and analysis, the results indicated denser web production in the warm enclosure compared to cool and control conditions.