Professor and Associate Dean for Student Success, Graduate School
B.S., Cornell University, 1983 Ph.D., University of California Davis, 1989
Behavioral Ecologist
Current Research:
Jumping spider perception, especially the control of visual attention and how input from multiple eyes is integrated.
Behavioral ecology and evolution of learned behaviors, using jumping spiders as model organisms.
Books and CDs:
Goodenough, J., B. McGuire, and E. Jakob. 2009. Perspectives in Animal Behavior, 3rd edition. J. Wiley & Sons. I wrote 6.5 chapters.
Jakob, E. M. and M. Hodge (eds.) 2005; revised 2009, 2012, 2018. Learning the Skills of Research: Laboratory and Field Exercises in Animal Behavior. Included as a CD with an animal behavior text published by Sinauer Press. I am also author or co-author of five chapters.
Drickamer, L., S. Vessey, and E. Jakob. 2001. Animal Behavior: Mechanisms, Ecology, Evolution. Fifth Edition. McGraw-Hill. Dubuque, Iowa. I wrote chapters 4-7, 15, and 19.
Peer Reviewed Papers (published, in press, in review, and in preparation) (Undergraduate co-authors are emphasized.):
Jakob, E.M., S.M. Long, D.P. Harland, R.R. Jackson, A. Carey, M.E. Searles, A.H. Porter, C. Canavesi5and Jannick P. Rolland. 2018. Lateral eyes direct principal eyes as jumping spiders track objects. Current Biology 28:R1092-R1093.
Jakob, E. M., S.M. Long, and M. Bruce. 2018. Spiders—Hints for testing learning and cognition in jumping spiders. In N. Bueno-Guerra and F. Amici (eds). In N. Bueno-Guerra and F. Amici (eds). The Experimental Umwelt: a Practical Guide to Animal Cognition. Cambridge University Press. Pp. 381-400.
Houser, J. D., A. Porter, H. Ginsberg, and E.M. Jakob. 2016. The effect of agonistic competitive interactions between invasive and native sheet-web spiders. Canadian Journal of Zoology 94:427-434.
Jakob, E.M. and S. Long. 2016. How (not) to train your spider. Invited paper for Festschrift issue of New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 43:112-126.
Long, S.M., A. Leonard, A. Carey, and E. M. Jakob. 2015. Vibration as an effective stimulus for aversive conditioning in jumping spiders. Journal of Arachnology 43:111-114.
Houser, J.D., H. Ginsberg, and E. M. Jakob. 2014. Competition between introduced and native spiders (Araneae: Linyphiidae). Biological Invasions 16:2479-2488.
Spano, L., S. M. Long, and E. M. Jakob. 2012. Secondary eyes mediate the response to looming objects in jumping spiders (Phidippus audax, Salticidae). Biology Letters 8:949-951.
Bednarski, J. V., P. Taylor, and E. M. Jakob. 2012. Optical cues used in predation by jumping spiders, Phidippus audax (Araneae, Salticidae). Animal Behaviour 84:1211-1227.
Long, S. M., S. Lewis, L. Jean-Louis, G. Ramos, J. Richmond, and E. M. Jakob. 2011. Firefly flashing and jumping spider predation. Animal Behaviour 83:81-86.
Jakob, E. M., A. H. Porter, H. Ginsberg, J. V. Bednarski, and J. Houser. 2011. A four-year study of invasive and native spiders in Maine. Canadian Journal of Zoology 89:668-677.
Jakob, E. M., C. Skow and S. Long. 2011. Plasticity, learning and cognition. In M. E. Herberstein (ed.), Spider Behaviour: Flexibility and Versatility. Cambridge University Press. Pp. 307-347.
Bednarski, J., H. Ginsberg and E. Jakob. 2010. Competitive interactions between a native spider (Frontinella communis, Araneae: Linyphiidae) and an invasive spider (Linyphia triangularis, Araneae: Linyphiidae). Biological Invasions 12:905-912.
Popular Press:
Jakob, E., A. Porter, J. Podos, B. 2010. Braun, N. Johnson, & S. Vessey. How to fail in grant writing. Chronicle of Higher Education, December 5 issue.
Department of Biology