Melisande Chicoine
Université du Québec à Montréal
M.Sc. candidate
Supervisor: Pierre-Olivier Montiglio
Maikel Rosabal
Start: 2025-01-01
End: 2026-12-31
M.Sc. candidate
Supervisor: Pierre-Olivier Montiglio
Maikel Rosabal
Start: 2025-01-01
End: 2026-12-31
Project
Bioaccumulation of heavy metal particles in Western black widow spiders (Latrodectus hesperus)Mining and car traffic generate a large amount of heavy metal particles, contributing to air pollution. We have yet to fully understand the impact those pollutants have on animals, partly because following those particles in ecological communities is almost impossible. Spiders, however, would make excellent bioindicators, as their distribution area is generally large, allowing site comparison. Their webs have also been shown to catch heavy metal particles, allowing us to quantify those contaminants. Moreover, spiders catch and consume a vast variety of prey insects, making it possible to examine a potential bioaccumulation in arthropods communities. Very few studies have yet been conducted to determine contamination and possible bioaccumulation in spiders and their webs, as well as their value as bioindicator species. My research objective is to establish a heavy metal contamination gradient in Western black widows of the South-West of the USA. Their range stretches from Vancouver, Canada to Northern Mexico. They mainly inhabit desert areas but can also be found in dense populations in cities and urbanized regions. These spiders make very resistant tridimensional webs, that can last for months in nature, on which she spends most of her life. For this experiment, I will collect about 100 spiders and their webs from different sites, distributed among natural, desertic areas to cities and suburban areas. I will then create the spider contamination profile and quantify as their web structure and accumulation capacity. Ultimately, I will analyze the relationship between the contamination profile of the spiders and their web and the atmospheric pollution of these different collection sites. To do so, black widows and their webs will be collected following a contamination potential gradient (cities, suburban, desert). Half of them will be frozen along with their webs for later analysis, and the other half will be placed on structures to weave a new web. An air filter will be fixed on each structure, which will then go back, with its spider, to their original location and left there for a period of time. The air filters will allow us to analyze with precision which contaminants are found at each site but also, to compare the particle retention capacities of the webs to those of the filters. In the end, the data collected from those manipulations will allow me to establish a more precise portrait of the black widows bioaccumulating capacities in relation to its environmental air pollution level. This project will allow the development of analysis and monitoring of pollution in ecological communities and will, in the long term, allow a more precise and detailed investigation of the impact of heavy metal pollution on biodiversity.
