Schaber, Clemens F., Gorb, Stanislav N. and Barth, Friedrich G. (2012) Force transformation in spider strain sensors: white light interferometry. Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 9 (71). pp. 1254-1264. DOI 10.1098/rsif.2011.0565.

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Abstract

Scanning white light interferometry and micro-force measurements were applied to analyse stimulus transformation in strain sensors in the spider exoskeleton. Two compound or ‘lyriform’ organs consisting of arrays of closely neighbouring, roughly parallel sensory slits of different lengths were examined. Forces applied to the exoskeleton entail strains in the cuticle, which compress and thereby stimulate the individual slits of the lyriform organs. (i) For the proprioreceptive lyriform organ HS-8 close to the distal joint of the tibia, the compression of the slits at the sensory threshold was as small as 1.4 nm and hardly more than 30 nm, depending on the slit in the array. The corresponding stimulus forces were as small as 0.01 mN. The linearity of the loading curve seems reasonable considering the sensor's relatively narrow biological intensity range of operation. The slits' mechanical sensitivity (slit compression/force) ranged from 106 down to 13 nm mN−1, and gradually decreased with decreasing slit length. (ii) Remarkably, in the vibration-sensitive lyriform organ HS-10 on the metatarsus, the loading curve was exponential. The organ is thus adapted to the detection of a wide range of vibration amplitudes, as they are found under natural conditions. The mechanical sensitivities of the two slits examined in this organ in detail differed roughly threefold (522 and 195 nm mN−1) in the biologically most relevant range, again reflecting stimulus range fractionation among the slits composing the array.

Document Type:	Article
Research affiliation:	OceanRep > The Future Ocean - Cluster of Excellence
Refereed:	Yes
Open Access Journal?:	No
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Projects:	Future Ocean
Date Deposited:	14 May 2014 09:38
Last Modified:	31 Jul 2019 04:57
URI:	https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/24235

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