While most spiders hunt alone,there are a few hundred species of social spiders that live in colonies.A.studiosus is one of them.Up to 50 individuals gather together to spin large collective webs,which catch larger prey than each spider could trap on its own.
All the colony members look the same,but they don't all behave in the same way.The females can be aggressive or docile (溫馴的).It's surprisingly easy to realize their personalities—just put two of them in a small box overnight and check on them the next morning.If they're both docile,they will have built a joint web in one corner of the box.If one of them is aggressive,the pair will be at opposite corners.
Colin Wright from the University of Pittsburgh has now found that these personality types do different jobs within the web,creating a natural division of labor.They're a little like ants,where small workers clean and look for food,and big soldiers guard and defend.But unlike these insects,the social spiders don't have castes (社會階層) with different builds.Instead,their roles are defined by their personalities.
When Wright's team first started studying A.studiosus,they couldn't work out what the docile spiders did.They didn't seem to repair webs,keep enemies away,or catch prey.But when the researchers checked the fates of colonies in the wild,they found that those with a mix of docile and aggressive members were more likely to survive than those with just a single type.The docile members were clearly doing something important.
It turns out that they act as the colony's babysitters.They spend most of their time standing watching over the eggs,or directly feeding the youngsters by regurgitating (反芻) food—just like a mother bird might.Meanwhile,the aggressive spiders generally avoid these tasks;instead,they spend most of their time building the web,catching prey,and defending their colonies.Compared to the docile spiders,the aggressive ones are better at those tasks,because the docile females rarely respond to enemies—and when they do respond,they do so slowly.
For now,it's not clear why the spiders naturally fall into their respective careers,or even what drives their different personalities in the first place.The team are now trying to answer these questions.In the meantime,Wright suggests that biologists should pay more attention to personality types,when trying to understand how animal societies work.
(1)According to the passage,what are the two personality types of female A.studiosus?
Aggressive and docile.
Aggressive and docile.
(2)What are the aggressive female spiders mainly responsible for? Building the web,catching prey,and defending their colonies.
Building the web,catching prey,and defending their colonies.
(3)Please decide which part is false in the following statement,then underline it and explain why.
In an A.studiosus colony,the division of labor is based on the different builds of the spiders. In an A.studiosus colony,the division of labor is based on the different builds of the spiders.(According to the passage,) in an A.studiosus colony,the division of labor is based on the personalities of spiders.
In an A.studiosus colony,the division of labor is based on the different builds of the spiders.(According to the passage,) in an A.studiosus colony,the division of labor is based on the personalities of spiders.
(4)Do you think personality traits influence human career choices?Why or why not? (In about 40 words) I think personality will influence people's career choice.According to the passage,spiders with different personalities do different things.The same is true for humans.Because personality can determine what people are good at and what they are not。
I think personality will influence people's career choice.According to the passage,spiders with different personalities do different things.The same is true for humans.Because personality can determine what people are good at and what they are not。