Sherman, P. M. (1994). The orb-web: an energetic and behavioural estimator of a spider's dynamic foraging and reproductive strategies. Animal Behaviour 48(1): 19-34.

This field study analyses reasons behind the changing, nightly web dimensions of the orb-weaving spider Larinioides cornutus (Araneidae), thereby providing insight into this species' dynamic foraging strategies. The investigation contrasts with earlier studies which have generally assumed web parameters of individuals to remain constant, constrained by species-specific design patterns. Three web dimensions, area of the catching spiral, total thread length, and mean mesh size, were measured for webs built before and after experimentally supplemented prey consumption and egg production. Nightly variations in web dimensions suggest that hungry spiders invest more effort into foraging, while sated spiders re-allocate energy from continued foraging to egg production. These data demonstrate that the foraging plasticity of individual orb-weavers is greater than previously presumed. More generally, the data lend support to a seldom-tested tenet of optimal foraging theory: the direct relationship between foraging success and enhanced reproductive fitness.

这项实地研究分析了圆网编织蜘蛛角类肥蛛Larinioides cornutus(园蛛科)夜间网尺寸变化的原因，从而为该物种的动态觅食策略提供了见解。这项研究与早期的研究不同，早期的研究通常假设个体的网参数保持不变，受到物种特定设计模式的限制。测量了在实验添加猎物消耗和产卵之前和之后构建的网的三个网尺寸，即捕获螺旋面积、总线长和平均网目尺寸。网络尺寸的夜间变化表明，饥饿的蜘蛛会投入更多的精力来觅食，而饱足的蜘蛛会将持续觅食的能量重新分配到产卵上。这些数据表明，个体编织者的觅食可塑性比之前假设的要大。更广泛地说，这些数据支持了最优觅食理论中一个很少被检验的原则：觅食成功与增强繁殖适合度之间的直接关系。