Animal behavior, ecology

1973 – Ph.D., University of Wisconsin

My work is at the interface between behavior, ecology and evolutionary biology with a central focus on the extent to which populations are at adaptive equilibria with respect to their physical and biotic environments. These questions are pursued through genetic analyses of fitness-linked traits, through species optimum and game theoretic analyses and simulations, and through field manipulations and breeding experiments.  Current work on the desert spider, Agelenopsis aperta, involves a quantitative genetic study of the effect of competitive interactions among conspecifics on the joint evolution of aggressiveness and body size. Aggressiveness is a social trait that is both a characteristic of an individual and of the environment. The results of a breeding experiment presented in Riechert and Johns (2005) suggested that while such factors as metabolic rate and assimilation efficiency are heritable, their effects on an individual’s phenotype are overridden by behavioral aggressiveness which also is genetically determined.  My other current main study system involves a reverse cline in sociality. All but one of the ~50 social spider species are limited to the tropics. Anelosimus studiosus, however, ranges from southern Argentina well into the eastern US. Current work on this species (with my former student, Jonathan Pruitt) in east Tennessee involves examination of the mix of social and asocial females and the extent to which this involves cooperative division of labor versus social parasitism.

I’ve never been at a loss of what to work on next because one puzzle always leads into many others. This is what makes me so excited to be a scientist and to want to share that spirit of adventure and discovery with students of all ages. It is thus not surprising that in addition to my research program, I have been drawn into and devote considerable energy to STEM outreach projects: Biology in a Box (a program I created which shares the wonders of nature and mathematics with K-12 students in 108 school systems in Appalachia) and VolsTeach (a STEM-teaching minor for undergraduate majors in STEM disciplines, where I am currently Co-Director).

Thesis Advisor to 28 matriculated graduate students (22 PhDs): Since I encourage my students to develop unique projects that are of interest to them, rather than to focus on my research interests, they have branched out into many different areas of biology.

• Wayne Tolbert — Science Applications Inc, Oak Ridge TN
• Ann Kronk — Pellissippi Community College
• John Ross —Calloway Gardens GA
• George Middendorf —Howard University
• Marie Turner —consulting
• Alan Cady — Miami Ohio University
• Mary Yoder Williams —Ecologist for City of Seattle
• Rosemary Gillespie —UC Berkeley
• Leslie Bishop – Earlham College
• Rose Marie Roeloffs  — University of North Carolina
• Robert Sepansky — ORNL
• Louis Provencher — Nature Conservancy
• David McLetchie — University of Kentucky
• Sam Marshall — James H. Barrow Field Station of Hiram College
• Robert Furey — Harrisburg University
• Eliszabeth O’Neill — ORNL
• Tom Paison — Carlisele/Wortman Associates Inc, Ann Arbor, MI
• Rebecca Young —Unknown
• Kimberly Norris Russell — New Jersey Institute of Technology
• Monica Beals — SAS Inc, Durham NC
• Nadia Ayoub — Washington & Lee University
• Florencia Fernandez-Campon — National Scientific and Technical Research Council, CCT Mendoza-IADIZA, Argentina
• Sarah Duncan —University of Alabama
• Jonathan Pruitt —University of Pittsburg,
• Audra Blair Galasso — Unknown

Currrent PhD students:

• Jen Bosco — Behavioral & morphological evolution at small and large scales in a spider clade (Coadvised by Brian O’Meara)
• Angela Chuang —Behavior-driven range expansions of an invasive Old World spider
• Domonique Hatton — Incorporating indirect effects of predators into models of pest insect control

Postdocs:

• Deborah Smith — Kansas
• Rosemary Roeloffs — Natural Products Sciences
• Ann Headrick — UC Davis
• Fred Singer — Radford University
• Phillip Johns — Bard College
• Thomas C Jones — East Tennessee State University

• 2016 SEC Faculty Achievement Award
• Commission of Women Notable Woman Award
• UTK Macebearer, 2011
• UTK Quest Scholar
• UTK Arts & Sciences College Marshal, 2010
• State of Tennessee Governor’s STEM Council
• National Academies Education Fellow in the Life Sciences
• AAAS Elected Fellow
• JR Cox Professorship
• L.R. Hesler Award for Excellence in Teaching & Service
• Discover Life in America Education Committee Chair & Board Member
• Term as Board of Directors for Ijams Nature Center
• Phi Beta Kappa
• Woman of the Year, Powell TN
• Alexander Prize for Teaching & Research Excellence
• 3 UTK College of Liberal Arts Community Service Awards
• Fellow & President of the Animal Behavior Society of America
• 2 Powell Elementary School’s Principal’s Award for Outstanding School & Community Service
• Animal Behavior Society Founders Award
• UTK Distinguished Service Professorship
• President, UT Chapter of Sigma XI
• National Lecturer Sigma Xi
• 12 UT Science Alliance Faculty Awards
• Tradition of Excellence Award, UT Commission on Women
• President, American Arachnological Society
• Senior International Fellowship in Health and Medicine, Fogarty Foundation, NIH
• Board of Directors, American Arachnological Society
• Mortar Board Citation for Academic Excellence
• American Association of University Women Fellowship
• National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship

My work has been supported by a total of $5.2M in funds from NSF, NIH Fogarty Foundation, The National Geographic Society, EPA, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, American Philosophical Society, Sigma XI, and the American Association of University Women.

Current Grants

• When and How Can Group Composition be Locally Adaptive? A Test with Social Spiders. Co PI with Jonathan Pruitt $150,000. NSF Award Period Covered: 04/01/14-08/31/19.
• Noyce Professional Development for Future STEM Educators at UTK. $1,196,592. NSF Award Period Covered: 09/01/11- 08/31/16

Past Grants

• 2010 – 2014: THEC UTeach replication grant $1.8 million with Susan Benner, Deans Bursten & Ryder
• 2006-2007: THEC Improving Teacher Quality Grant, Teaching Science Through Community Learning: Biology in a Box $70,000
• 2004-2007 National Science Foundation: Investigation of the Influence of Social Interactions on the Genetics and Joint Evolution of Aggressiveness and Body Size, $252,999 with J. B. Wolf.
• 2005-2006: National Science Foundation RET, Biology in a Box: A student –Active Learning Project, $22,000
• 2003-2004 THEC Improving Teacher Quality: Biology in a Box: A Student-Active Learning Project. $70,000
• 2001-2002 THEC Dwight D Eisenhower: Biology in a Box: A Student-Active Learning Project, $52,600
• 1998-2001 National Science Foundation: Alternative Routes to Quantitative Literacy for the Life Sciences $148,303 Co PI with L. Gross & B. Mullins
• 1997-1999 National Science Foundation: Test of a Conflicting-Tendency Model of fitness-Linked Behavioral Traits. National Science $141,000
• 1993-96 National Science Foundation: Study of the Interaction Between Gene Flow and Selection in a Test System $180,000.
• 1989-92 National Science Foundation: Sexual Selection VS Natural Selection in the spider, Agelenopsis aperta. $150,828
• 1988-89 National Science Foundation: Programmed Environmental Chambers: A Group Request. $171,500 Principal PI
• 1986-88 National Science Foundation: Evolution of Cooperative Behavior in Spiders: Selective Mode, Africa $122,000
• 1984-87 Environmental Protection Agency: Generalist predator control of insect pests in garden ecosystems, East Tennessee $177,000
• 1984-87 National Science Foundation: Genetics and evolutionary processes of within species competition, desert Southwest USA $180,000
• 1982-83 National Science Foundation: Undergraduate equipment grant for accelerated studies in honors zoology. $40,000
• 1981-84 Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation: The energetic basis of spider social structure, Gabon Africa. $36,400
• 1980-83 National Science Foundation: Ecology of agonistic behavior in spiders: ESS theory, desert Southwest USA $112,000
• 1977-80 National Science Foundation: Intraspecific competition in spiders, desert southwest USA and Cumberland Plateau, Tennessee $78,000
• 1975-77 National Science Foundation: Spider pattern and prey densities, desert Southwest USA. $40,000
• 1975-76 National Science Foundation: Undergraduate Equipment Grant for Behavioral Ecology $40,000 with G. Burghardt
• 1974-75 American Philosophical Society and Sigma XI: Physiological studies of thermal stress, desert southwest USA. $3,500
• 1973-74 National Geographic Society and NIH: Spider foraging behavior, desert Southwest USA $9,000
• 1971-73 National Geographic Society: Patterns of Local Spider Distribution, desert Southwest USA. $4,800

Please also see Dr. Riechert’s Google Scholar page for a complete list.

• Riechert, S.E. and W.G. Reeder. 1972. Effects of fire on spider distributions on southwestern prairies. Proc. 2nd Midwest Prairie Conference (1970) 13-70.
• Riechert, S.E., Reeder, W.G. and T.A. Allen. 1973. Patterns of spider distribution (Agelenopsis aperta (Gertsch)) in desert grassland and Recent lava bed habitats, south-central New Mexico. J. Anim. Ecol. 42: 19-25.
• Holthaus, W.A. and S.E. Riechert. 1973. A new time-sort pitfall trap. Annals Ent. Soc. 55: 1362-1363.
• Riechert, S.E. 1974. The pattern of local web distribution in a desert spider: mechanisms and seasonal variation. J. Anim. Ecol. 43: 733-746.
• Riechert, S.E. 1974. Thoughts on the ecological significance of spiders. Bioscience 24: 352-356.
• Riechert, S.E. and C.R. Tracy. 1975. Thermal balance and prey availability: bases for a model relating web-site characteristics to spider reproductive success. Ecology 56: 265-284.
• Reeder, W.G. and S.E. Riechert. 1975. Vegetation change along an altitudinal gradient, Isla Santa Cruz, Galapagos. Biotropica 7: 162-175.
• Riechert, S.E. 1976. Web-site selection in a desert spider, Agelenopsis aperta (Gertsch). Oikos 27: 311-315.
• Gertsch, W.J. and S.E. Riechert 1976. The spatial and temporal partitioning of a desert spider community with descriptions of new species. Am. Mus. Novitates 2604: 1-25.
• Post, W.M. III and S.E. Riechert. 1977. Initial investigations into spider community structure: I. Competitive effects. J. Anim. Ecol. 46: 729-49.
• Riechert, S.E. 1978. Energy-based territoriality in populations of the desert spider Agelenopsis aperta (Gertsch). Symp. Zool. Soc. London 42: 211-222.
• Riechert, S.E. 1978. Games spiders play: Behavioral variability in territorial disputes. Behav. Ecol. and Sociobiol. 3: 135-162.
• Riechert, S.E. 1978. Development and reproduction in desert animals. In Parry and Goodall ed. Ecosystem Processes. Cambridge Univ. Press, 795-820.
• Kronk, A. W. and S. E. Riechert. 1979. Parameters affecting the habitat choice of a desert wolf spider, Lycosa santrita Chamberlin and Ivie. J. Arachnol. 7: 155-166.
• Riechert, S.E. 1979. Games spiders play II. Resource assessment strategies. Behav. Ecol. and Sociobiol. 4: 1-8.
• Riechert, S.E. 1981. The consequences of being territorial: spiders, a case study. Am. Natur. 117: 871-892.
• Riechert, S. E. 1982. Spider interaction strategies: Communication versus coercion. In P.N. Witt and J. Rovner ed. Spider Communication: Mechanisms and Ecological Significance. Princeton University Press.
• Riechert, S.E. and J. Luczak. 1982. Spider foraging: Behavioral responses to prey. In P.N. Witt and J. Rovner ed. Spider Communication: Mechanisms and Ecological Significance. Princeton University Press.
• Riechert, S.E. and A. Cady. 1983. Patterns of resource use and tests for competitive release in a spider community. Ecology 64: 899-913.
• Riechert, S.E. and P. Hammerstein. 1983. Game Theory in an ecological context. Ann. Rev. Ecol. and System. 14: 377-409.
• Riechert, S.E. 1984. Games spiders play III. Cues underlying context associated changes in agonistic behavior. Anim. Behav. 32: 1-15.
• Riechert, S.E. and T. Lockley. 1984. Spiders as biological control agents. Ann. Rev. Entomol. 29: 299-320.
• Maynard Smith, J. and S. E. Riechert. 1984. A conflicting tendency model of spider agonistic behaviour: Hybrid-pure population line comparisons. Anim. Behav. 32: 564-578.
• Riechert, S.E. 1985. Decision problems in multiple goal contexts: Spider habitat selection. Zeitschrift fur Tierpsychol. 70: 53-69.
• Riechert, S.E. 1985. Why do some spiders cooperate? Agelena consociata, a case study. Behav. Ecol. Symp. Flor. Ent. Soc. 68: 106-116.
• Riechert, S. E. 1986. Spider fights: A test of evolutionary game theory Amer. Sci., 47: 604-610.Cited and reprinted in P. M. Kareiva. 1998. Exploring Ecology and Its Applications. 279 pps.
• Riechert, S.E., G. Uetz & B. Abrams. 1985. The state of arachnid systematics. Bull. Entomol. Soc. 31: 4-5.
• Riechert, S.E., Roeloffs, R. and A.C. Echternacht. 1986. The ecology of the social spider Agelena consociata in equatorial Africa. J. Arachnol., 14(2): 175-192
• Riechert, S.E. and R. Gillespie. 1986. Habitat choice and utilization in web building spiders In W.B. Shear ed. Spiders: webs, behavior and evolution Stanford Univ. Press, Stanford, 520 p.
• Riechert, S.E. 1987. Between population variation in spider territorial behavior: Hybrid-pure population line comparisons. In M. Huettel ed. Evolutionary Genetics of Invertebrate Behavior. Plenum Press. Pp 33-42.
• Riechert, S.E. and J. Harp. 1987. Nutritional Ecology of Spiders, in Arthropod Nutrition, Slansky and Rodriguez eds., Academic Press, New York, In Press,pp 318-328.
• Roeloffs, R. and Riechert, S. E. 1988. Dispersal and Population genetic structure of the cooperative spider, Agelena consociata, in west african rainforests. Evolution 42: 173-183.
• Hammerstein, P. and S. E. Riechert. 1988. Payoffs and strategies in spider territorial contests: ESS-analyses of two ecotypes. Evolutionary Ecology 2:115-138.
• Riechert, S.E. 1988. Energetic costs of fighting. Amer. Zool. 28:877-884.
• Riechert, S. E. and J. Maynard Smith. 1989. Genetic analyses of two behavioural traits linked to individual fitness in the desert spider, Agelenopsis aperta. Anim. Behav. 37: 624-637.
• Furey, R. E. and S. E. Riechert. 1989. Agelena consociata and its nest associates: Insect cleaners. J. Arachn. 17:240-242.
• Hedrick, Ann V. and Susan E. Riechert. 1989. Population variation in the foraging behavior of a spider: The role of genetics. Ecologia 80:533-539.
• Riechert, S. E. and Ann V. Hedrick 1990. Levels of predation and genetically based anti-predatory behavior in the spider, Agelenopsis aperta. Animal Behav. 40: 679-687.
• Riechert, S. E. and L. Bishop. 1990 Prey control by an assemblage of generalist predators in a garden test system. Ecology 71: 1441-1450.
• Bishop L. and S. E. Riechert. 1990. Spider colonization of agroecosystems: Source and mode. Environmental Ent. 19:1738-45.
• Riechert, S. E. 1990. Habitat manipulations augment spider control of insect pests. Ann. Zool. Fennici. 190:321-325.
• Riechert, S. E. 1991. Prey abundance versus diet breadth in a spider test system. Evol. Ecol.. 5:327-338.
• Provencher, L. and S. E. Riechert. 1991. Short term effects of hunger conditioning on spider behavior, predation and gain of weight. Oikos.62: 160-166.
• Riechert, S. E. 1992. Spiders as Representative Sit-and Wait Predators. In: Biology of Natural Enemies (ed. M.J. Crawley), Blackwell, London, pp 313-328.
• Riechert, S. E. 1993. The evolution of behavioral phenotypes: lessons learned from divergent spider populations. Adv. Anim. Behav. 22: 103-134.
• Riechert, S. E. 1993. A Test for Phylogenetic Constraints on Behavioral Adaptation in a Spider System. Behav. Ecol. & Sociobiol. 32:343-348.
• Riechert, S. E. 1993. Investigation of potential gene flow limitation of behavioral adaptation in an aridlands spider. Behav. Ecol. & Sociob. 32:355-363.
• Riechert, S. E. and Rose Marie Roeloffs. 1993. Inbreeding and its consequences in the social spiders. In: The Natural History of inbreeding and outbreeding, PP 283-303,(ed. N. Thornhill), University of Chicago Press.
• Riechert S. E. and A. V. Hedrick. 1993. A test for correlations among fitness-linked behavioural traits in the spider Agelenopsis aperta (Araneae, Agelenidae). Anim. Behav. 46: 669-675.
• Provencher, L. and S. E. Riechert. 1994. Model and field test of prey control effects by spider assemblages. Environ. Ent. 23: 1-17.
• Singer, F. & S. E. Riechert 1994.Tests for sex differences in fitness-linked traits in the spider Agelenopsis aperta. J. Insect Behav. 7: 517-532.
• Riechert, S. E. & F. Singer 1995 Investigation of potential male mate choice in a monogamous spider. Anim. Behav. 49: 715-723.
• Provencher, L. & S. E. Riechert. 1995. Theoretical comparisons of individual success between phenotypically pure and mixed generalist predator populations. Ecol. Model. 82: 175-191.
• Singer, F. & S. E. Riechert . 1995. Mating system and mating success in the desert spider, Agelenopsis aperta. Behav. Ecol. Soc.36: 313-322.
• Riechert , S. E. & K. Lawrence. 1997 Test for predation effects of single versus multiple species of generalist predators: spiders and their insect prey. Entomologia Experimentalis et applicata 84:147-155
• Riechert, S. E. 1998. Game theory and animal contests. In L.A. Dugatkin & H. K. Reeve eds. Game Theory and Animal Behavior. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 64-92.
• Riechert, S. E. & J. L. Maupin. 1998. Spider effects on prey: Tests for superfluous killing in five web-builders. pp. 203-210 in Selden, P. A. (ed.). Proceedings of the 17th European Colloquium of Arachnology, Edinburgh 1997. British Aarachnological Society: Burnham Beeches, Bucks. x + 350 pp. ISBN 0 9500093 2 6
• Riechert, S. E. 1998. The role of spiders and their conservation in the agroecosystem In. Enhancing Biological Control (eds. C.H. Pickett and R. L. Bugg), Univ. Cal. Press. Pp 211-237
• Riechert, S. E., Provencher, L. and K. Lawrence. 1999. The potential of spiders to exhibit stable equilibrium point control of prey: Tests of two criteria. Ecological Applications. 9: 365-377.
• Riechert, S. E.1999. The use of behavioral ecotypes in the study of evolutionary processes. In S. Foster & J. Endler eds. Geographic variation in behavior: Perspectives on evolutionary mechanisms. Oxford Univ. Press. 314 pp3-32.
• Riechert, S. E. 1999. The hows and whys of successful pest suppression by spiders: Insights from case studies. J. Arachn. 27: 387-396.
• Singer, F., Riechert, S. E., Xu, H., Morris, A. W., Becker, E. Hale, J. A., Noureddine, M. A. 2000. Analysis of courtship success in the funnel-web spider Agelenopsis aperta. Behaviour 137: 93 – 117.
• Riechert, S. E. and R. F. Hall. 2000. Local population success in heterogeneous habitats: reciprocal transplant experiments completed on a desert spider. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 13: 1-10.
• Papke, M. S. E. Riechert and S. Schulz. 2001. An Airborne Spider Pheromone Associated with Male Attraction and Release of Courtship. Anim. Behaviour 61:1-11
• Maupin, J.L. and S. E. Riechert. 2001. Superfluous killing in spiders: A consequence of adaptation to food-limited environments? Behavioral Ecology 12: 569-576
• Riechert, S.E., F.D. Singer, and T.C. Jones. 2001. High gene flow levels lead to gamete wastage in a desert spider system. Genetica 112/113: 297-319. Microevolution: Rate, pattern, process A, P. Hendry and M. T. Kinnison, ed Kluwer Academic. V 8 of Contemporary Issues in Genetics and Evolution 2001
• Riechert, S. E. and P. Johns 2003. Do female spiders select heavier males for the genes for behavioral aggressiveness they offer their offspring? Evolution 57:1367-1373.
• Ayoub, N.A. and S. E. Riechert 2004. Molecular evidence for Pleistocene glacial cycles driving diversification of North American desert spider Agelenopsis aperta. Molecular Ecology 13: 3453-3465.
• Becker, E., Riechert, S.E., Singer, F. 2005. Male Induction of Female Quiescence/Catalepsis during Courtship in the Spider, Agelenopsis aperta. Behaviour 142 57-70.
• Riechert, S. E. 2005 Patterns of inheritance of traits associated with predator foraging behavior. Pp. 55-76 In: Ecology of Predator-Prey Interactions (eds. P. Barbosa and I. Castellanos). Oxford University Press.
• Barbosa, P, Caldas, A. and S. E. Riechert. 2005. Species abundance distribution and predator-prey interactions: Theoretical and applied consequences. Pp 344-369 In: Ecology of Predator-Prey Interactions (eds. P. Barbosa and I. Castellanos). Oxford University Press.
• Ayoub, N. A., S. E. Riechert and R. L. Small. 2005. The speciation history of the north American funnel-web spider Agelenopsis (Araneae: Agelenidae): Phylogenetic inferences at the population-species interface. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.36:42-57.
• Jones, T. C., S. E. Riechert, S. E. Dalrymple, and Patricia G. Parker 2007. Fostering Model Explains Environmental Variation in Levels of Sociality in a Spider System. Animal Behaviour. 73:195-204.
• Jones, TC, SE Riechert & SE Dalrymple & PG Parker. 2007. Fostering Model Explains Environmental Variation in Levels of Sociality in a Spider System. Animal Behaviour. 73:195-204.
• Perkins, TA, SE Riechert & TC Jones. 2007. Interactions between the social spider Anelosimus studiosus and foreign spiders that frequent its nests. J Arachnology 35:146-155.
• Riechert, SE & TC Jones. 2008. Phenotypic Variation in the Behavior of the Spider, Anelosimus studiosus, Facilitates Shift from Single Female to Multiple Female Nests in Colder Environments. Animal Behaviour 75: 1893-1902.
• Pruitt, JN, SE Riechert & TC Jones, 2008. Behavioural syndromes and their fitness consequences in a socially polymorphic spider (Anelosimus studiosus. Animal Behaviour. 76, 871-879.
• Pruitt, JN, SE Riechert & TC Jones, 2008. Behavioural syndromes and their fitness consequences in a socially polymorphic spider (Anelosimus studiosus. Animal Behaviour 76, 871-879.
• Jones, TC & SE Riechert. 2008. Patterns of reproductive success associated with social structure and microclimate in a spider system. Animal Behaviour. 76: 2011-2019.
• Post, BK & SE Riechert. 2009. Bridging the gap: Biology and engineering in the High School Curriculum. Proc. ASEE SE Conference. pp 16-24.
• Pruitt, JN & SE Riechert. 2009. Sex matters: sexually dimorphic fitness consequences of a behavioral syndrome. Animal Behaviour 78: 175-181.
• Pruitt, JN & SE Riechert. 2009. Frequency dependent success of cheaters during foraging bouts might limit their spread within colonies of a socially polymorphic spider. Evolution 63: 2966-2973.
• Pruitt JN and SE Riechert. 2009. Male preference for female social tendency is explained by differential risk in courtship. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.63:1573-1580.
• Pruitt JN & SE Riechert. 2009 Male mating preference is associated with risk of pre-copulatory cannibalism in a socially polymorphic spider. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 63: 1573-1580
• Riechert, SE & BK Post. 2010. From Skeletons to Bridges and other STEM Enrichment Exercises for High School Biology. American Biology Teacher 72: 20-23.
• Duncan, SE, Riechert, SE, Fitzpatrick, BM & Fordyce, JA. 2010. Relatedness and genetic structure in a socially polymorphic population of the spider Anelosimus studiosus. Molecular Ecology 4: 810–818.
• Pruitt JN, SE Riechert, G Iturralde, M Vega, BM Fitzpatrick & L Aviles. 2010. Population differences in behaviour are explained by shared within‐population trait correlations. Journal Evolutionary Biology 23: 748-756.
• Jones, TC, JN Pruitt & SE Riechert. 2010 Fecundity and reproductive success in a socially polymorphic spider: social individuals experience depressed fitness when in isolation. Ecological Entomology 35: 684-690.
• Riechert, SE, RN Leander & SM Lenhart. 2011. A Role Playing Exercise Demonstrating the Process of Evolution by Natural Selection: Caching Squirrels in a World of Pilferers. The American Biology Teacher 73: 208-212.
• Pruitt, JN & SE Riechert. 2011. How within-group behavioural variation and task efficiency enhance fitness in a social group. Proc. Royal Society (B) 278: 8 pp
• Pruitt, JN& SE Riechert SE. 2011.Within-group behavioral variation promoted biased task performance and the emergence of a defensive caste in a social spider. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 65:1055–1060.
• Pruitt JN & SE Riechert SE. 2011. Nonconceptive sexual experience diminishes individual’ latency to mate and increases maternal investment. Animal Behaviour 81:789-794. Featured in Science News: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/01/spider-foreplay/
• Pruitt JN, Riechert SE, Harris D (2011) Reproductive consequences of male body mass and aggressiveness depend on females’ behavioral types. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 65:1957-1966.
• Pruitt JN & Riechert SE. 2011.Reproductive consequences of male body mass and aggressiveness depend on females’ behavioral types. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 65: 1957-1966.
• Pruitt JN, Burghardt GM, & Riechert SE. 2012. Non-Conceptive Sexual Behavior in Spiders: A Form of Play Associated with Body Condition, Personality Type, and Male Intrasexual Selection. Ethology 118: 33-40.
• Pruit, JN, Iturralde G, Avilés L, Riechert SE (2011) Amazonian social spiders share similar within-colony behavioral variation and behavioral syndromes. Animal Behaviour 82:1449-1455.
• Pruitt JN, Oufiero CE, Avilés L, Riechert SE. 2012. Iterative evolution of increased behavioral variation characterizes the transition to sociality in spiders and proves advantageous. The American Naturalist 180:496-510.
• Pruitt JN, Riechert SE. 2012. The ecological consequences of temperament in spiders. Current Zoology 58:589-596.
• Riechert, SE. 2013. Maynard Smith & Parker ’76: Rule Book for Animal Contests, Mostly. Animal Behaviour 86:3-9.
• Riechert, S.E. 2014. Nature’s designs applied to technology. In C. Sneider Ed. High School Engineering Curricula Ready to Go, Corwin, Press.
• Bengston, S. E., Pruitt, J. N. & S. E. Riechert. 2014. Differences in environmental enrichment generate contrasting behavioural syndromes in a basal spider lineage. Animal Behaviour 93:105-110.
• Pruitt, J. N. & S.E. Riechert. Families hunt more successfully: Effect of group composition on hunting and communal feeding. In Press Animal Behaviour