School of Biological Sciences
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, Nebraska 68588-0118 United States
tel: 402-472-2571
ehebets2@unl.edu
Much of the research in my laboratory focuses on the evolution and function of complex signaling. While many displays throughout the animal kingdom simultaneously utilize multiple signals, often in multiple modalities, the function and significance of these complex displays are not well understood. The primary goal of this research program is to understand the various selection pressures that might drive the evolution of complex signaling, with a special focus on courtship signaling. The methods that I use to achieve this goal incorporate multiple levels of analysis including broad comparative approaches concentrating on behavior and morphology, manipulative laboratory and field experiments, as well as more mechanistic approaches incorporating electrophysiology and endocrine assays. Currently, while the wolf spider genus Schizocosa is the primary system within which I focus my questions regarding complex signal function, I also work on the jumping spider genus Habronattus (see publication list).
2023
Urbanization affects web abundance and aggregation of a funnel‑weaving spider, Agelenopsis pennsylvanica (Agelenidae), Brandi J. Pessman, Madison Hays, Earl Agpawa, and Eileen Hebets
2022
Increased signal complexity is associated with increased mating success, Noori Choi, Matt Adams, Kasey Fowler-Finn, Elise Knowlton, Malcolm Rosenthal, Aaron Rundus, Roger D. Santer, Dustin J. Wilgers, and Eileen Hebets
Description of the courtship and copulation behaviours of the wall spider Oecobius concinnus (Oecobiidae), Diego Solano-Brenes, Laura Segura-Hernández, and Gilbert Barrantes
Ogre-Faced, Net-Casting Spiders Use Auditory Cues to Detect Airborne Prey (video), Jay A. Stafstrom, Gil Menda, Eya I. Nitzany, Eileen Hebets, and Ronald R. Hoy
2021
Spiders (Araneae) Collected as Prey by the Mud-Dauber Wasps Sceliphron caementarium and Chalybion californicum (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae) in Southeastern Nebraska1, Tyler B. Corey, Earl Agpawa, and Eileen Hebets
Visual control of refuge recognition in the whip spider Phrynus marginemaculatus, Kaylyn A.S. Flanigan, Daniel D. Wiegmann, Patrick Casto, Vincent J. Coppola, Natasha R. Flesher, Eileen Hebets, and Verner Peter Bingman
Multisensory integration supports configural learning of a home refuge in the whip spider Phrynus marginemaculatus, Kaylyn A.s. Flanigan, Daniel D. Wiegmann, Eileen Hebets, and Verner Peter Bingman
Identification and Quantification of 11 Airborne Biochemicals Emitted by the Brown Recluse and Another Primitive Hunting Spider Using Headspace Solid-Phase Microextraction-GC/MS, Zachary Foulks, Jennifer Parks, William Stoecker, Charles Kristensen, Eileen A. Hebets, and Honglan Shi
Solifuge (camel spider) reproductive biology: an untapped taxon for exploring sexual selection, Alfredo V. Peretti, David E. Vrech, and Eileen Hebets
Phylogenomic Variation at the Population-Species Interface and Assessment of Gigantism in a Model Wolf Spider Genus (Lycosidae, Schizocosa), James Starrett, Ashley Bui, Rowan McGinley, Eileen Hebets, and Jason E. Bond
2020
Vertical‑Surface Navigation in the Neotropical Whip Spider Paraphrynus laevifrons (Arachnida: Amblypygi), Patrick Casto, Daniel D. Wiegmann, Vincent J. Coppola, Daniele Nardi, Eileen A. Hebets, and Verner P. Bingman
Testing the Hypothesized Antipredator Defence Function of Stridulation in the Spiny Orb-Weaving Spider, Micrathena gracilis, Tyler B. Corey and Eileen A. Hebets
Demonstrating mate choice copying in spiders requires further research, R. Tucker Gilman, Kasey Fowler-Finn, and Eileen A. Hebets
Using a College Curriculum to Integrate Informal Science Learning Opportunities for University and Middle School Students, Eileen Hebets, Patricia Wonch Hill, Ann Matthews, Kathie Phillips, Susan Weller, Cassidy Whitney, and Tyler B. Corey
Exploring a novel substrate-borne vibratory signal in the wolf spider Schizocosa floridana, Malcolm F. Rosenthal, Eileen Hebets, Rowan H. McGinley, Cody Raiza, James Starrett, Lin Yan, and Damian O. Elias
Ogre-Faced, Net-Casting Spiders Use Auditory Cues to Detect Airborne Prey, Jay A. Stafstrom, Gil Menda, Eya I. Nitzany, Eileen A. Hebets, and Ronald R. Hoy
Distortion of the Local Magnetic Field Appears to Neither Disrupt Nocturnal Navigation nor Cue Shelter Recognition in the Amblypygid Paraphrynus laevifrons, Daniel D. Wiegmann, Patrick Casto, Eileen Hebets, and Verner P. Bingman
2019
Ecophysiological Determinants of Sexual Size Dimorphism: Integrating Growth Trajectories, Environmental Conditions, and Metabolic Rates, Marie-Claire Chelini, John P. DeLong, and Eileen A. Hebets
Contemporary sexual selection does not explain variation in male display traits among populations, J. Colton Watts, Allissa Flynn, Brigitte Tenhumberg, and Eileen Hebets
2018
Eight-Legged Encounters—Arachnids, Volunteers, and Art help to Bridge the Gap between Informal and Formal Science Learning, Eileen Hebets, Melissa Welch-Lazoritz, Pawl Tisdale, and Patricia Wonch Hill
2017
Increased insertion number leads to increased sperm transfer and fertilization success in a nursery web spider, Alissa G. Anderson and Eileen Hebets
Importance of the antenniform legs, but not vision, for homing by the neotropical whip spider Paraphrynus laevifrons, Verner P. Bingman, Jacob M. Graving, Eileen Hebets, and Daniel D. Wiegmann
Field evidence challenges the often-presumed relationship between early male maturation and female-biased sexual size dimorphism, Marie Claire Chelini and Eileen Hebets
Development of site fidelity in the nocturnal amblypygid, Phrynus marginemaculatus, Jacob M. Graving, Verner P. Bingman, Eileen Hebets, and Daniel D. Wiegmann
Record breaking achievements by spiders and the scientists who study them, Stefano Mammola, Peter Michalik, Eileen Hebets, and Marco Isaia
Neural Circuitry for Target Selection and Action Selection in Animal Behavior, Daizaburo Shizuka, Eileen Hebets, and Kim L. Hoke
Sensory system plasticity in a visually specialized, nocturnal spider, Jay A. Stafstrom, Peter Michalik, and Eileen Hebets
2016
Benefits of size dimorphism and copulatory silk wrapping in the sexually cannibalistic nursery web spider, Pisaurina mira, Alissa G. Anderson and Eileen Hebets
The behavioral ecology of amblypygids, Kenneth J. Chapin and Eileen A. Hebets
Absence of Mate Choice and Postcopulatory Benefits in a Species with Extreme Sexual Size Dimorphism, Marie Claire Chelini and Eileen Hebets
Absence of Mate Choice and Postcopulatory Benefits in a Species with Extreme Sexual Size Dimorphism, Marie-Claire Chelini and Eileen A. Hebets
Polyandry in the absence of fitness benefits in a species with female-biased sexual size dimorphism, Marie Claire Chelini and Eileen A. Hebets
A systems approach to animal communication, Eileen A. Hebets, Andrew B. Barron, Christopher N. Balakrishnan, Mark E. Hauber, Paul H. Mason, and Kim L. Hoke
Nocturnal foraging enhanced by enlarged secondary eyes in a net-casting spider, Jay A. Stafstrom and Eileen A. Hebets
Amblypygids: Model Organisms for the Study of Arthropod Navigation Mechanisms in Complex Environments?, Daniel D. Wiegmann, Eileen A. Hebets, Wulfila Gronenberg, Jacob M. Graving, and Verner P. Bingman
2015
Embracing multiple definitions of learning, Andrew B. Barron, Eileen A. Hebets, Thomas A. Cleland, Courtney L. Fitzpatrick, Mark E. Hauber, and Jeffrey R. Stevens
The complexities of female mate choice and male polymorphisms: Elucidating the role of genetics, age, and mate-choice copying, Kasey D. Fowler-Finn, Laura Sullivan-Beckers, Amy M. Runck, and Eileen A. Hebets
Octopamine levels relate to male mating tactic expression in the wolf spider Rabidosa punctulata, Eileen A. Hebets, Matthew Hansen, Thomas C. Jones, and Dustin J. Wilgers
A dual function of white coloration in a nocturnal spider Dolomedes raptor (Araneae: Pisauridae), Tai-Shen Lin, Shichang Zhang, Chen-Pan Liao, Eileen A. Hebets, and I-Min Tso
Temporal patterns of nutrition dependence in secondary sexual traits and their varying impacts on male mating success, Malcolm F. Rosenthal and Eileen A. Hebets
Functional Approach to Condition, Dustin J. Wilgers and Eileen A. Hebets
2014
A male spider’s ornamentation polymorphism maintained by opposing selection with two niches, Bo Deng, Alex Estes, Brett Grieb, Douglas Richard, Brittney Hinds, and Eileen Hebets
Eight Legged Encounters, Eileen A. Hebets
Multimodal sensory reliance in the nocturnal homing of the amblypygid Phrynus pseudoparvulus (Class Arachnida, Order Amblypygi)?, Eileen A. Hebets, Alfonso Aceves-Aparicio, Samuel Aguilar-Argüello, Verner P. Bingman, Ignacio Escalante, Eben J. Gering, David R. Nelson, Jennifer Rivera, José Ángel Sánchez-Ruiz, Laura Segura-Hernández, Virginia Settepani, Daniel D. Wiegmann, and Jay A. Stafstrom
Nocturnal homing in the tropical amblypygid Phrynus pseudoparvulus (Class Arachnida, Order Amblypygi), Eileen Hebets, E.J. Gering, Verner P. Bingman, and Daniel D. Wiegmann
Dangerous mating systems: Signal complexity, signal content and neural capacity in spiders, Marie E. Herberstein, Anne E. Wignall, Eileen Hebets, and Jutta M. Schneider
Obligate male death and sexual cannibalism in dark fishing spiders, Steven Schwartz, William E. Wagner, and Eileen A. Hebets
Tactical adjustment of signaling leads to increased mating success and survival, Laura Sullivan-Beckers and Eileen A. Hebets
Detection of predator cues alters mating tactics in male wolf spiders, Dustin J. Wilgers, Daniel Wickwire, and Eileen Hebets
2013
Diversification under sexual selection: the relative roles of mate preference strength and the degree of divergence in mate preferences, Rafael L. Rodríguez, Janette W. Boughman, David A. Gray, Eileen A. Hebets, Gerlinde Höbel, and Laurel B. Symes
Spontaneous male death and monogyny in the dark fishing spider, Steven K. Schwartz, William E. Wagner, and Eileen Hebets
Female mate choice for multimodal courtship and the importance of the signaling background for selection on male ornamentation, Jay A. Stafstrom and Eileen A. Hebets
No evidence for a relationship between hemolymph ecdysteroid levels and female reproductive behavior in Schizocosa wolf spiders, Reed M. Stubbendieck, Anthony J. Zera, and Eileen A. Hebets
2012
A robust new metric of phenotypic distance to estimate and compare multiple trait differences among populations, Rebecca Safran, Samuel Flaxman, Michael Kopp, Darren E. Irwin, Derek Briggs, Matthew R. Evans, W. Chris Funk, David A. Gray, Eileen A. Hebets, Nathalie Seddon, Elizabeth Scordato, Laurel B. Symes, Joseph A. Tobias, David P.L. Toews, and J. Albert C. Uy
2011
More Ornamented Males Exhibit Increased Predation Risk and Antipredatory Escapes, but not Greater Mortality, Kasey D. Fowler-Finn and Eileen Hebets
The degree of response to increased predation risk corresponds to male secondary sexual traits, Kasey Fowler-Finn and Eileen Hebets
Current Status and Future Directions of Research in Complex Signaling, Eileen Hebets
Chemical Communication in a Multimodal Context, Eileen A. Hebets and Aaron S. Rundus
Enigmatic Ornamentation Eases Male Reliance on Courtship Performance for Mating Success, Eileen Hebets, Jay A. Stafstrom, Rafael L. Rodriguez, and Dustin J. Wilgers
Females Are Choosier in the Dark: Environment-Dependent Reliance on Courtship Components and Its Impact on Fitness, Aaron S. Rundus, Laura Sullivan-Beckers, Dustin J. Wilgers, and Eileen Hebets
Complex courtship displays facilitate male reproductive success and plasticity in signaling across variable environments, Dustin Wilgers and Eileen Hebets
A sticky situation: Solifugids (Arachnida, Solifugae) use adhesive organs on their pedipalps for prey capture, Rodrigo H. Willemart, Roger D. Santer, Andrew J. Spence, and Eileen Hebets
2010
Female mate choice based upon male motor performance, John Byers, Eileen Hebets, and Jeffrey Podos
A signal-substrate match in the substrate-borne component of a multimodal courtship display, Damian O. Elias, Andrew C. Mason, and Eileen Hebets
Mate Choice and Learning, Eileen Hebets and Laura Sullivan-Beckers
Multimodal courtship efficacy of Schizocosa retrorsa wolf spiders: Implications of an additional signal modality, Aaron S. Rundus, Roger D. Santer, and Eileen Hebets
2009
Costs and benefits of freezing behavior in the harvestman Eumesosoma roeweri (Arachnida, Opiliones), Marie-Claire Chelini, Rodrigo H. Willemart, and Eileen Hebets
Prey capture by the whip spider Phrynus marginemaculatus C.L. Koch, Roger D. Santer and Eileen Hebets
Tactile learning by a whip spider, Phrynus marginemaculatus C. L. Koch (Arachnida, Amblypygi), Roger D. Santer and Eileen Hebets
Courtship effort is a better predictor of mating success than ornamentation for male wolf spiders, Paul S. Shamble, Dustin J. Wilgers, Katharine A. Swoboda, and Eileen Hebets
Condition-dependent alternative mating tactics in a sexually cannibalistic wolf spider, Dustin J. Wilgers, Amy C. Nicholas, David H. Reed, Gail E. Stratton, and Eileen Hebets
2008
Seismic signal dominance in the multimodal courtship display of the wolf spider Schizocosa stridulans Stratton 1991, Eileen Hebets
Substrate-dependent signaling success in the wolf spider, Schizocosa retrorsa, Eileen Hebets, Damian O. Elias, Andrew C. Mason, Gary L. Miller, and Gail E. Stratton
Diet influences mate choice selectivity in adult female wolf spiders, Eileen Hebets, Jennifer Wesson, and Paul S. Shamble
Agonistic signals received by an arthropod filiform hair allude to the prevalence of near-field sound communication, Roger D. Santer and Eileen Hebets
Supplementary Material: Agonistic signals received by an arthropod filiform hair allude to the prevalence of near-field sound communication, Roger D. Santer and Eileen Hebets
2007
A Review of Leg Ornamentation in Male Wolf Spiders, with the Description of a New Species from Australia, Artoria schizocoides (Araneae, Lycosidae), Volker W. Framenau and Eileen Hebets
SUBADULT FEMALE EXPERIENCE DOES NOT INFLUENCE SPECIES RECOGNITION IN THE WOLF SPIDER SCHIZOCOSA UETZI STRATTON 1997, Eileen Hebets
Experience leads to preference: experienced females prefer brush-legged males in a population of syntopic wolf spiders, Eileen Hebets and Cor J. Vink
Cross-modal effects on learning: a seismic stimulus improves color discrimination learning in a jumping spider, Nicole D. VanderSal and Eileen Hebets
2006
Female preference for complex/novel signals in a spider, Damian O. Elias, Eileen Hebets, and Ronald R. Hoy
REGIONAL SEISMIC SONG DIFFERENCES IN SKY ISLAND POPULATIONS OF THE JUMPING SPIDER HABRONATTUS PUGILLIS GRISWOLD (ARANEAE, SALTICIDAE), Damian O. Elias, Eileen Hebets, Ronald R. Hoy, Wayne P. Maddison, and Andrew C. Mason
Seismic signal production in a wolf spider: parallel versus serial multi-component signals, Damian O. Elias, Norman Lee, Eileen Hebets, and Andrew Mason
AN EXAMINATION OF AGONISTIC INTERACTIONS IN THE WHIP SPIDER PHRYNUS MARGINEMACULATUS (ARACHNIDA, AMBLYPYGI), Kasey D. Fowler-Finn and Eileen Hebets
The Role of Visual Ornamentation in Female Choice of a Multimodal Male Courtship Display, Eileen Hebets, K. Cuasay, and P. K. Rivlin
ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF GIANT NEURONS IN THE ANTENNIFORM LEG OF THE AMBLYPYGID PHRYNUS MARGINEMACULATUS, A. J. Spence and Eileen Hebets
2005
Seismic signals are crucial for male mating success in a visual specialist jumping spider (Araneae: Salticidae), Damian O. Elias, Eileen Hebets, Ronald R. Hoy, and Andrew C. Mason
Attention-altering signal interactions in the multimodal courtship display of the wolf spider Schizocosa uetzi, Eileen Hebets
Xenophilic mating preferences among populations of the jumping spider Habronattus pugillis Griswold, Eileen Hebets and Wayne P. Maddison
Complex signal function: Developing a framework of testable hypotheses, Eileen Hebets and Daniel R. Papaj
2003
Subadult experience influences adult mate choice in an arthropod: Exposed female wolf spiders prefer males of a familiar phenotype, Eileen Hebets
2002
2001
Sensory Biology of Whip Spiders (Arachnida, Amblypygi), Ranier Foelix and Eileen Hebets
2000
Electrophysiological studies of olfaction in the whip spider Phrynus parvulus (Arachnida, Amblypygi), Eileen Hebets and Reginald F. Chapman
Surviving the flood: plastron respiration in the non-tracheate arthropod Phrynus marginemaculatus (Amblypygi: Arachnida), Eileen Hebets and Reginald F. Chapman
Leg ornamentation and the efficacy of courtship display in four species of wolf spider (Araneae: Lycosidae), Eileen Hebets and George W. Uetz
1999
Female responses to isolated signals from multimodal male courtship displays in the wolf spider genus Schizocosa (Araneae: Lycosidae), Eileen Hebets and George W. Uetz
1998
Geographical variation in male courtship behavior and sexual isolation in wolf spiders of the genus Schizocosa, Gary L. Miller, Gary L. Stratton, Patricia R. Miller, and Eileen Hebets
1996
HABITAT AND COURTSHIP BEHAVIOR OF THE WOLF SPIDER SCHIZOCOSA RETRORSA (BANKS) (ARANEAE, LYCOSIDAE), Eileen Hebets, Gail E. Stratton, and Gary Miller
PATTERN AND DURATION OF COPULATION IN WOLF SPIDERS (ARANEAE, LYCOSIDAE), Gail E. Stratton, Eileen Hebets, Patricia R. Miller, and Gary L. Miller