self portrait   Linden Higgins
 Department of Biology, University of Vermont


Adjunct Assistant Research Professor
Associate Editor for Behavior, Journal of Arachnology

contact: Linden.Higgins<at>uvm.edu
NSF logoSupported in part through grants from the National Science Foundation

Many organisms are habitat generalists.  We often think of each species having its particular "place" in the natural world. But many species survive and even thrive in diverse habitats – perhaps the best known habitat generalist is Homo sapiens - ourselves.  Understanding of how organisms can survive in a variety of environments is the study of small-scale adaptation to local conditions. I have spent most of my professional career studying a widely distributed large spider, and this web site shares some of what I have learned.
Big spiders. Residents and visiters to the Gulf Coast of the United States may recognize N clavipes with preythese spiders: they are the largest orb weaver in the US.  Nephila clavipes is one of only two species in the family Nephilidae native to the New World; the other - Nephila sexpunctata - is only found in the forests on the border between Brazil and Argentinia (a third has been introduced and is common in coastal Brazil). 

More about Nephila and the family Nephilidae, along with many fine photographs, can be found at Matjaz Kuntner's web site.

Integrating across fields in biology. Using tools from diverse disciplines in biology,Juvenile on web I study how one species of web-building spider persists in very different habitats with little obvious morphological  differentiation.  By focusing on a single species, I have been able to integrate biological processes across the scales from the molecular to the community.

Large numbers of students have worked in my laboratory on projects associated with understanding these spiders.  Click on the spiders below to learn more about Nephila and my research.


Note: I am currently updating this web site (May 2011) and some of these pages are old, others still in development.
link 1 Nephila life cycle and natural history
link 1Web building and prey capture
link 1Studying Nephila clavipes in Mexico
link 1Student projects using Nephila
link 1Teaching
link 1 How to identify a great project and do your own science
link 1Links to interesting web sites in science and science education