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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Li,
J. J., Zhang, Z. T., Liu, F. X., Liu, Q. Q., Chen, J., Lim,
M. L. M. & Li, D. UVB-based mate choice cues used
by females of the jumping spider Phintella vittata. Current
Biology 18: 699-703.
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Li,
J. J., Lim, M. L. M., Zhang, Z. T., Liu, Q. Q., Liu, F. X.,
Chen, J. & Li, D. 2008. Sexual
dichromatism and male colour morph in ultraviolet-B reflectance
in two populations of the jumping spider Phintella vittata (Araneae:
Salticidae) from tropic China. Biological Journal of the
Linnean Society 94: 7-20.
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Lim,
M. L. M., Li, J. J. & Li, D. 2008. Effect
of UV-reflecting markings on female mate -choice decisions
in Cosmophasis
umbratica, a jumping spider from Singapore. Behavioral
Ecology 19: 61-66.
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Chan,
J. P. Y., Lau, P. R., Tham, A. J. & Li, D. 2008.
The effects of male-male contest and female eavesdropping
on female mate choice and male mating success in a jumping
spider, Thiania
bhamoensis (Araneae: Salticidae). Behavioral
Ecology and Sociobiology 62: 639-646.
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Todd, P. A., Yeo, D. C. J., Li, D. & Ladle,
R. J. 2007. Citing practices in ecology: can we believe our
own words? Oikos 116:
1599-1601.
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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 20:
1478-1489.
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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. Behavioral
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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