I am primarily interested in the behavioural ecology of spiders. Since spiders are relatively sedentary and easy to maintain in lab conditions, I think that they are ideal study subjects. I have long been fascinated with the strategies used by spiders to manipulate their environment, such as in web-site choice or by adopting a colonial or social mode of existence. Lately, my interests in spider behaviour has led me to investigate the function of web decorations. For my PhD, using controlled experiments, I studied the interactions between a typical prey (such as a honey bee or a stingless bee) and a decorating spider. Currently I am working on questions with respect to web asymmetry and orientation in orb web spiders, spider biodiversity and biological control of pest species. Click here to read about these projects in more detail.