SpiderSpotter | SPOTTERON

SpiderSpotter is designed to blend citizen science with urban ecological research, inviting users to explore the adaptability of spiders to city environments. Amidst the urban heat, where concrete and asphalt amplify the temperatures, spiders and other animals face a significant challenge in staying cool. The app aims to engage users in gathering data that could unveil evolutionary changes in real-time within these urban 'living laboratories'.

The application specifically targets two key characteristics of spiders: their color and their web structures. It operates on the hypothesis that, much like vehicles, lighter-colored spiders should absorb less heat, potentially leading to a predominance of lighter shades in urban settings. This insight could help gauge the rate of environmental heating. Moreover, web design is pivotal for spiders' hunting success, and given the potential scarcity of prey in urban areas, the platform seeks to identify adaptations in web structure that may denote efficiency improvements, possibly involving smaller mesh sizes for better prey capture.

Engaging with this platform not only contributes to the wider understanding of animal adaptability and evolutionary biology in cities but possibly offers practical benefits to human urban living. These include the development of innovative cooling strategies derived from the spiders' natural coping mechanisms.

As a part of the SPOTTERON Citizen Science platform, SpiderSpotter provides an opportunity for users to contribute to significant ecological research while discovering more about the fascinating world of spiders and their survival strategies within our cities.