Our work explores interactions between thermal physiology, thermoregulation, and reproductive ecology in wolf spiders. We focus on species found at Tyson Research Center that differ in sexually selected behaviors, ornamentation, and body size to investigate how variation in sexual characters influences both thermoregulatory performance and mating success. Studying such interactions enhances our understanding of how organisms may have adapted to the environments of the past and could persist under future temperature conditions.
Climate mediates the ecophysiological costs and benefits of sexually selected traits in wolf spiders