Linda Rayor

Professional Overview and Objectives

Research: I am an arthropod behavioral ecologist. My research program is focused on a comparative study of the behavioral ecology, physiology, and phylogeny of social and solitary Australian huntsman spider species to determine the costs and benefits and costs associated with group living in these cannibalistic spiders. Sociality is found in less than 1% of all arachnids. All huntsman spiders are attentive mothers, and thus preadapted to social behavior, yet only a single species, Delena cancerides, is social. My research has demonstrated that Delena have reduced their metabolic rates as an adaptation for group living, suffer minimal costs and many benefits of living with older family members, and live in saturated habitats that do not allow subadults to successfully disperse. This contrasts with the high metabolic rates, cannibalism, and open habitats available to 11 solitary huntsman species.

Teaching: I teach seven quality courses every two years and have the deserved reputation as an outstanding teacher. My courses provide important contributions to the CALS Biology Curriculum in two important ways: providing diversity training in organismal biology and providing courses with an exceptional component of experiential or service-learning (Spider Biology 215, Spider Biology 315, Naturalist Outreach Practicum, Insect Behavior) and have been productively integrated with my research program. I closely mentor and teach behavioral research skills to a large number of talented undergraduate students in my program. Within the last year, I have won the 2007 CALS Innovative Teacher and Entomology Society of America Distinguished Achievement in Teaching Award (Eastern Branch).

Outreach: My Naturalist Outreach Speakers Bureau is a response to national needs to attract students into science, for scientists who can communicate the value of their work to the public, and to enhance public appreciation for the environment. My program sends Cornell University students into local classrooms and community groups to give free talks about natural history, ecology, and behavior. Since its inception, 105 Cornell students have spoken to 920 groups and reached over 22,150 people in individual presentations and 11,800 people through large scale outreach events (Insectapalooza, State Fair, etc.). Audiences from 6 to 80 of age have heard these presentations in school classrooms, at civic organization meetings, and at community events.

Academic Ranks

Senior Research Associate: 2005
Assistant Professor: 2001
Instructor 1994

Areas of Expertise

Behavioral ecology; Animal Behavior; Arachnology; Spiders; Arthropod behavior; Social Evolution; Scientific outreach; Training effective outreach skills

Courses Taught

Entom 2150 Spider Biology: Life on a Silken Thread
Entom 3150 Spider Biology
Entom 3250 Insect Behavior
Entom 3350 Naturalist Outreach Practicum
Entom 3360 Naturalist Outreach in Biology

Extension and Outreach

The Naturalist Outreach Speakers Bureau is a response to national needs to attract students into science, for scientists who can communicate the value of their work to the public, and to enhance public appreciation for the environment. The program, developed and directed by Senior Research Associate Dr. Linda S. Rayor, sends Cornell University students into local classrooms and community groups to give free talks about natural history, ecology, and behavior. Since its inception, 105 Cornell students have spoken to 920 groups and reached over 22,150 people in individual presentations and 11,800 people through large scale outreach events (Insectapalooza, State Fair, etc.). Audiences from 6 to 80 of age have heard these presentations in school classrooms, at civic organization meetings, and at community events. Beginning in 2005, Dr. Rayor formalized her outreach program into an innovative, interdisciplinary course: Naturalist Outreach Practicum. By reaching across campus to bring together experts in pedagogy, communication, and the sciences, Dr. Rayor has developed a ground-breaking course that addresses a groundswell of student interest in careers that combine their passion for science, education, and civic engagement. As they graduate from Cornell, over 30% of the students have gone on to take leadership roles in communicating science, initiating or seeking opportunities to continue doing scientific outreach around the country.

Publications

* Undergraduates who have done research with me

Rayor, L.S., L.J. Mooney*, & J.A. Renwick. 2007. The effects of cardenolides in Pieris napi caterpillars on the predatory behavior of Polistes dominulus wasps. Journal of Chemical Ecology. (in press, July issue)

Rayor, L.S & C. Gilbert. 2007. Common Spiders of New York. New York Conservationist. (in press, June).

L.S. Rayor. 2007. Naturalist outreach practicum: inoculating a new generation of civically engaged biological outreach leaders. In: P. Horrigan (ed), In Short: Voices of Service Learning at Cornell. Cornell Publishing. (in press, June).

Hamm, R.L. & L.S. Rayor. 2007. Insectapalooza: practical suggestions for pulling off a large entomology outreach event. American Entomologist 53:12-14.

L.S. Rayor. 2007. Family Ties: Unexpected social behavior in an improbable arachnid, the whip spiders. Natural History Magazine. 116: 38-44.

L.S. Rayor & Taylor, L*. 2006. Social behavior in amblypygids, and a reassessment of arachnid social patterns. Journal of Arachnology 34: 399-421

Naturalist Outreach Web site: http://www.entomology.cornell.edu/NaturalistOutreach/

Cornell Cybertower Study Room: ‘A Romance with Spiders by Linda S. Rayor ’.
http://cybertower.cornell.edu/

Spider Science Web Page: http://www.entomology.cornell.edu/SpiderOutreach/

Rayor, L.S. 2004. Effects of monarch larval host plant chemistry and body size on Polistes wasp predation. Pp. 39- 46. In Oberhauser, K.S. & Solensky, M.J. (eds) The Monarch Butterfly: Biology and Conservation. Cornell University Press, Ithaca NY.

Rayor, L.S. & S. Munson*. 2002. Larval feeding experience influences adult generalist predators to accept chemically defended prey. IN: Proceedings of the 11th International Symposium on Insect-Plant Relationships, J.K. Nielsen, C. Kjaer, L.M Schoonhoven. Kluewer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht.+

Rayor, L.S. & S. Munson*. 2002. Larval feeding experience influences adult generalist predators to accept chemically defended prey. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 104: 193-201. + Same paper.

Rayor, L.S. 2001. Spider Science Web Page with resources for teachers http://www.entomology.cornell.edu/SpiderOutreach/Welcome.html).

Eigenbrode, S.D., L. Rayor, J. Chow*, & P. Latty*. 2000. Effects of waxbloom variation in Brassica oleracea on foraging by a vespid wasp. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 97:161-166.

Rayor, L.S. & G.W. Uetz. 2000. Age-related sequential web-building as an adaptive spacing strategy in the colonial spider Metepeira incrassata (Araneidae). Animal Behavior 59:1251-1259.

Losey, J.E., L.S. Rayor, & M.E. Carter. 1999. Transgenic pollen harms monarch larvae. Nature. 399: 214.

Books in preparation:

Rayor, L.S. & C. Gilbert.  2008.  Spiderwatching.  Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.