Humans are invading so much space that certain types of spiders just aren't cut out for city life. Their webs that are spun on concrete and steel kills the vibrations that spiders need to sense their prey. It's tough being a spider in the city.

A research team at UC Berkeley hunted for spider webs around campus to study this and noted that both the materials on the webs were built on and how well they could conduct ambient noise. The researchers replicated each material's level of noise vibration in the lab and simulated the effect of potential prey with a second web vibrator.

They found that the spiders had the easiest time detecting prey when the background vibrations came mostly from wind. They learned that the artificial bases were the quietest, making them harder for spiders to sense intruders.



And because man-made materials dampen vibrations, it makes dinner hard to come by for spiders. Poor spiders. [Animal Behaviour via Science News]