PhD Cant, MSc Central China Agric. Univ., BSc Hubei
Research Areas:
Behavioual Ecology, Arachnology, Biodiversity and Biomaterials-Spider Silk.
Research Interests:
General research interests of our lab lie in the fields of ecology, behaviour and evolution of animals, mostly in terrestrial invertebrates. Specifically the lab is interested in how animals that have small brain with few neurons solve the everyday problems that they face within their respec-tive environments. Our research focuses on the area of behavioural ecology, and includes work on animal communication, including social and mating behaviour, predator-prey interactions, especially in aggressive mimicry; evolutionary significance of prey-specific prey-catching and prey-preference behaviour. The lab is also interested in biodiversity of arthropods in tropical rainforests. The lab works mainly with spiders, and work both in the field and the laboratory. Recently, we also include our work on linking spider silk proteins and spider web-spinning behaviour to animal forag-ing behaviour and ecology, and biomaterials.
Current Projects:
Animal Communication
We aim to understand the mechanisms by which animals, spiders in particular, communicate  and to study the different kinds of communication systems that have evolved within and between species. Within species, our objective is to understand courtship, threat and other display behavour during interactions. Between different species, our objective is to understand predator-prey communication that includes aggressive mimicry (predator communicates deceitfully with prey) and anti-predator defences that involve prey communicating with prey. Predator-prey interaction We are interested in the following questions: how important has predator-prey co-evolution been in the evolution of behaviour? What kinds of behavioural specialisation have evolved in preda-tors? How is the apparent behavioural complexity of many aggressive mimic predator species to be accounted for?
Spider silk
We are interested in why spiders evolved to produce multiple types of silk proteins and which selective forces that affect the evolution of silk functional properties. Our goal is to investigate the physical and mechanical properties of spider silks, clone the spider silk genes and transfer the spider silk genes into silkworms. During the course of study, several spider silk proteins genes will be isolated and characterized and a silkworm silk protein gene promoter will also be isolated and characterized. The transgenic technique for the silkworm will be developed. Effects of transgenes on behaviours of GM animals We examine whether transgene affects foraging, sexual behaviour, reproduction and viability of transgenic zebrafish. We will also consider the potential to increase transgene frequency and to eliminate populations, especially when a sexual trait is affected by transgenes. Therefore, we can develop a new method for assessing the impact of transgenic organisms.
Biodiversity of tropical rainforest arthropods
To take several parallel approaches to studying the biodiversity patterns of arthropods and the underlying ecological processes which produce such patterns in the rainforests of Singapore. The three subprojects have the following general goals: 1) to quantify the relationship between arthro-pod diversity and plant (including fungal) diversity, the role of fungi and vascular epiphytes, and the changes in arthropod diversity with plant phenology; 2) to evaluate the usefulness of selected taxa as indicators of the quality of forest remnants; and 3) to determine the relationship between canopy arthropod fauna and other components of the forest arthropod fauna.
Selected Publications:
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Lim, M. L. M., Land, M. F. & Li, D. 2007. Sex-specific UV and fluorescence signals in jumping
spiders. Science 315: 481.
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Su, K. F. Y., Meier, R., Jackson, R. R., Harland, D. P. & Li, D. 2007. Convergent evolution of
eye ultrastructure and divergent evolution of vision-mediated predatory behavior in jumping
spiders. Journal of Evolutionary Biology (in press).
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Land, M. F., Lim, M. L. M. & Li, D. 2007. Optics of the ultra-violet reflecting scales of a
jumping spider. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 274: 1583-1589.
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Lim, M. L. M. & Li, D. 2007. Effects of age and feeding history on structure-based ornaments
of a jumping spider. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 274: 569-575.
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Du, N., Liu, X. Y., Narayanan, J., Li, L., Lim, M. L. M. & Li, D. 2006. Design of superior spider
silk: from nanostructure to mechanical properties. Biophysical Journal 91: 4528-4535.
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Nelson, X. J., Jackson, R. R., Li, D. 2006. Honest signalling in a Batesian mimic: conditional
anti-predator behaviour in jumping spiders. Behavoral Ecology 17: 575-580.
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Lim, M. L. M. & Li, D. 2006. Extreme ultraviolet sexual dimorphism in jumping spiders
(Araneae: Salticidae). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 89: 397-406.
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Lim, M. L. M. & Li, D. 2006. Behavioural evidence of ultraviolet sensitivity in jumping spiders
(Araneae: Salticidae). Journal of Comparative Physiology A 192: 871-878.
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Clements, R., Koh, L. P., Lee, T. M., Meier, R. & Li, D. 2006. Importance of reservoirs for the
conservation of freshwater molluscs in a tropical urban landscape. Biological Conservation 128: 136-146.
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Su, K. F. L. & Li, D. 2006. Female-biased predation risk and its differential effect on the male
and female courtship behaviour of jumping spiders. Animal Behaviour 71: 531-537.
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Li, D. & Lim, M. L. M. 2005. Ultraviolet cues affect the foraging behaviour of jumping spiders.
Animal Behaviour 70: 771-776.
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Li, D. 2005. Spiders that decorate webs at higher frequency intercept more prey and grow
faster. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 272: 1753-1757.
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Li, D., Lim, M. L. M., Seah, W. K. & Tay, S. L. (2004). Prey-attraction as a possible function of
discoid stabilimenta of juvenile orb-spinning spiders. Animal Behaviour 68: 629-635.
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Li, D. & Lee, W. S. (2004). Predator-induced plasticity in web-building behaviour. Animal
Behaviour 67: 209-318.
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Li, D. & Jackson, R. R. (2003). Predator's preference for egg-carrying females: a novel cost of
parental care. Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology 55: 129-136.
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Li, D. (2002). Hatching responses of subsocial spitting spiders to predation risk. Proceedings
of Royal Society of London B 269: 2155-2161.
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Jackson, R. R., Pollard, S., Li, D. & Fijn, N. (2002). Interpopulation variation in the risk-related
decisions by an araneophagic jumping spider (Araneae, Salticidae), during predatory sequences
with spitting spiders. Animal Cognition 5: 215-223.
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Seah, W. K. & Li, D. (2001). Stabilimenta attract unwelcome predators to orb-webs.
Proceedings of Royal Society of London B 268:1553-1558.
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Kitching, R. L., Li, D. & Stork, N. E. (2001). Assessing biodiversity 'sampling packages' how
similar are arthropod assemblages in different tropical rainforests? Biodiversity and
Conservation 10:793-813.
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