Behavioral ecology is the study of the adaptive value of behavior.
Behavioral ecologists use a cost and benefit approach to assess the fitness consequences of various behaviors. Spiders are among the most abundant terrestrial predators on the planet and are therefore extremely important ecologically and economically. Spiders are easily cultured in the lab and studied in the field. They lend themselves well to questions about sexual selection, foraging strategies, predator-prey interactions, communication, parental investment, population biology, and trophic interactions. Proximate mechanisms governing egg sac discrimination and recognition in the wolf spider Pardosa milvina .