Araneus Marmoreus 

Biological Overview

Habitat  

Forest areas, tall plants, streams.  

Diet  

Mosquitoes, small wasps, flies, and more.  

Role in Ecosystem  

Without this spider, insect populations would skyrocket, and animals that eat marbled orb-weavers would die, causing even more overpopulation among other animals, shattering the ecosystem for a long time, if not forever.  

Behavior  

In a web away from predators, constantly waiting for its food to come to it. 

Human Impact

Human impacts on this organism: Deforestation and freshwater shortages cause the marbled orb-weaver to have no home, and its food to die out. Without any insects to eat, the orb-weaver starves, and dies. If this is repeated, they could be threatened by extinction, and if they die out completely, the ecosystems they all live in could be permanently damaged. 

Creative Exploration

Now, here’s a fictional story about what the araneus marmoreus does nearly every day: “I woke up, thanks to this mosquito that fortunately ran into my web. I ate it, realized it was the morning, and just stayed in my web, expanding it. These weird giants came by, setting up a fire and tents, but all they ever did was use these weird can objects and talk and eat, only ever taking a look at me, probably because I’m so cool. Thankfully, they didn’t hurt me, and now it was night, the time where mosquitoes love to run into my web, and luckily my dinner was arriving in a few minutes.” 

Dutch

Book 1