Agricultural and Life Sciences (IFAS)
Taylor Lab
Led by Lisa Taylor · Entomology and Nematology
What we study
The Taylor Lab studies how arthropods like spiders and wasps use color and behavior for communication, mating, and predator evasion. They use field observations and lab experiments to test how these traits evolve and function.
What working here is like
- Fieldwork
- Wet lab
- Other insects
- No coding
- Projects
- 3
- Papers
- 6
Current projects
Sexual selection and the evolution of colorful courtship displays
Researching how jumping spiders' vibrant displays influence mating and survival.
Predator psychology and the evolution of prey coloration
Examining how arthropod predators like spiders and wasps perceive and learn about prey color patterns.
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Does odor alter pattern aversion in foraging jumping spiders?
The lab studies how spider predators respond to warning colors and smells. The student gave jumping spiders a choice between black, white, and striped termites, with and without defensive bug odors, to see if odors increase avoidance of striped prey.
From the Spring 2025 UF Undergraduate Research Symposium · abstract book, p. 433
Summaries are written by AI in plain language from public symposium abstracts and may be imperfect.
Recent papers, explained
- Black and Yellow Mud Dauber Sceliphron caementarium (Drury, 1773) (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Sphecidae)
2026 · EDIS
Describes a wasp found in Florida.
- Color vision improves foraging success and accelerates reproduction in a jumping spider
2026 · Behavioral Ecology
Tests if spiders with color vision find food and reproduce faster.
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- Effect of odour on prey pattern aversion in jumping spiders
2026 · Royal Society Open Science
Tests if bugs' odors make spiders avoid striped prey.
- Mate choice as a third context in which a mosquito-specialist jumping spider attends to red-coloured cues
2025 · Royal Society Open Science
Tests if male jumping spiders use red faces to pick mates.
- Do Green Lynx Spiders ( Peucetia viridans ) Change Color in Response to Their Backgrounds?
2025 · Ethology
Tests whether green lynx spiders change color to match their backgrounds using light measurements.
- Llunio polisi addysg datganoledig yn y DU: golwg ar bedair awdurdodaeth
2024 · Cylchgrawn Addysg Cymru / Wales Journal of Education
Looks at how policy moves in UK schools are affected by different authorities.
Plain-language summaries are AI-written and reviewed by us; check the paper for details.
How to reach out
Lisa Taylor hasn't set up this page yet. You can also look them up in the UF directory (search “Lisa Taylor”).