Forest Spider Communities Diversity

A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Diversity".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2023) | Viewed by 9582

Special Issue Editor

Növényvédelmi Kutatóintézete, Budapest, Hungary
Interests: ecology; biological control; generalist predator; spider; pest; predation; behavioral ecology; community ecology; nature conservation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

A substantial part of global spider species richness (currently over 48,000 species described) is harbored in forests. Spiders, being predators of other arthropods, play a significant role in forest ecosystems. With their specific but also varied biology and behavior, they interact with the biotic and abiotic features of the forest environment. The most prominent example of this is the various uses of spider silk. Capture webs determine spiders’ prey spectrum but also make use of the vegetation’s structural features and the physical properties of the abiotic environment. Importantly, spiders also use their silk for ballooning, which allows them to disperse across habitat patches and to be pioneers in newly created or converted areas. The ecological significance, extensive range of adaptations and high species, and taxon diversity make spiders an exciting group to study in natural forests. Tropical and subtropical forests, as well as remote areas, still hold many undescribed taxa and keys to phylogenetical questions. Getting a clear picture of spider diversity can contribute to our global understanding of biodiversity and biogeographical patterns. On more local scales, studying spider communities and meta-communities can provide insights into community dynamics and community assembly in the interaction with the dynamism of habitat changes. However, most habitat changes are now driven by human actions. Climate change and the ensuing transformation of forest ecosystems, intensive management, fragmentation, as well as large-scale deforestation and habitat alteration all seriously affect the forest biota, including spiders. A huge part of the forests are managed, and issues on how that management prioritizes production, conservation or recreation have a complex bearing on forest spiders. Altered forests, such as plantations, urban forests, and parks, create special biological interactions and spider communities. These complex issues also require complex methodologies to study. Molecular methods, including environmental DNA studies, are gaining ground, and the technical difficulties of collecting from canopies, high trees, and special microhabitats continue to be a challenge. Forest spiders do not just represent a diverse group, but also a huge diversity of research questions and approaches, which we intend to sample in the forthcoming Special Issue of Diversity, for which we now await submissions.

Dr. Ferenc Samu
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • Spiders
  • Climate change
  • Deforestation
  • Tropical forests
  • Conservation
  • Diversity hotspots
  • Forestry management
  • Burning
  • Prescribed fire
  • Plantation
  • Urban forest
  • Park
  • Alfa, beta, gamma diversity patterns
  • Meta-community dynamics
  • Fragmentation
  • Forest food-webs
  • Canopy sampling
  • Bark
  • Litter

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 3500 KiB  
Article
Seasonality and Long-Term Effect of Environmental Variables on the Orb Weaver Spider Community of a Tropical Dry Forest in the Balsas Basin, Mexico
by Miguel Menéndez-Acuña, Mónica Salas-Rodríguez, Griselda Montiel-Parra, Solange Sotuyo and Ma Ventura Rosas-Echeverría
Diversity 2023, 15(3), 466; https://doi.org/10.3390/d15030466 - 21 Mar 2023
Viewed by 1701
Abstract
Spiders are significant predators in terrestrial habitats, with the highest diversity found in tropical ecosystems, but it is also where they are studied least. In this study, we analyzed the effect of seasonality and three environmental variables (precipitation, evaporation, and temperature) in the [...] Read more.
Spiders are significant predators in terrestrial habitats, with the highest diversity found in tropical ecosystems, but it is also where they are studied least. In this study, we analyzed the effect of seasonality and three environmental variables (precipitation, evaporation, and temperature) in the orb-weaver composition, richness, abundance, dominance, and diversity. In addition, the species turnover between three localities with differences in the vegetation composition and maintenance in the Sierra de Huautla, Morelos, Mexico, were evaluated. The collection methods used included beating vegetation and direct searches conducted over seven hours during daylight, once per month, between April 2013 and March 2014. A total of 17 species from 14 genera were registered. With the records, we compiled the first species inventory of araneids for the three localities, adding eight new species records for the state of Morelos. The predominant species were Neoscona oaxacensis (Keyserling, 1864) and Trichonephila clavipes (Linnaeus, 1767), but over 50% of the species that we recorded corresponded to a single individual. The Araneid community changed between the dry and rainy seasons in all three localities, with each locality responding differently to changes in environmental variables, with most variables maintaining a long-term effect on the spider community. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Spider Communities Diversity)
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13 pages, 1832 KiB  
Article
Can Gap-Cutting Help to Preserve Forest Spider Communities?
by Ferenc Samu, Zoltán Elek, Jana Růžičková, Erika Botos, Bence Kovács and Péter Ódor
Diversity 2023, 15(2), 240; https://doi.org/10.3390/d15020240 - 08 Feb 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1316
Abstract
Continuous cover forestry maintains many characteristics of uneven-aged natural forests and aims to preserve biodiversity. Gap-cutting is a management option that may create a balance between timber production and continuous forest cover. We investigated the effect of newly created gaps on ground-dwelling spider [...] Read more.
Continuous cover forestry maintains many characteristics of uneven-aged natural forests and aims to preserve biodiversity. Gap-cutting is a management option that may create a balance between timber production and continuous forest cover. We investigated the effect of newly created gaps on ground-dwelling spider assemblages in a managed oak forest, in the Pilis Mts., Hungary. Between 2018–2021 we sampled newly created elongated and circular-shaped gaps of two different sizes in a six-times replicated randomised complete block design. Pitfall samples of ~4600 spiders indicated that spider species richness was moderately higher in the gaps than in control stands. Spider assemblages did not respond in a specific way to the different gap implementations, but their variation in species composition was considerably higher in gaps than in the control plots. The excess spider abundance and species number in gaps, as compared to control, increased over the observation period, as did the dissimilarity of gap assemblages to control. Species responses imply that gaps create a variation in microhabitats and microclimatic conditions, resulting in spiders’ diversification. The overall effect of gaps on spider assemblages suggests that gap-cutting is a suitable management option that preserves forest spider assemblages. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Spider Communities Diversity)
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12 pages, 1708 KiB  
Article
Deer Exclusion Changes Vegetation Structure and Hunting Guilds of Spiders, but Not Multitrophic Understory Biodiversity
by Roman Bucher, Jonas Rochlitz, Nathalie Wegner, Anna Heiß, Alexander Grebe, Dana G. Schabo and Nina Farwig
Diversity 2021, 13(1), 25; https://doi.org/10.3390/d13010025 - 12 Jan 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2440
Abstract
Ungulate herbivores modify plant community compositions, which can modulate biodiversity at higher trophic levels. However, these cascading effects on herbivorous and predatory arthropods in forest ecosystems remain poorly understood. We compared plant and arthropod communities between fenced exclosures and unfenced control plots in [...] Read more.
Ungulate herbivores modify plant community compositions, which can modulate biodiversity at higher trophic levels. However, these cascading effects on herbivorous and predatory arthropods in forest ecosystems remain poorly understood. We compared plant and arthropod communities between fenced exclosures and unfenced control plots in a permanent forest in Germany. After five years of deer exclusion, we quantified plant diversity and vegetation structure as well as the diversity of insects and spiders in 32 pair-wise plots. In addition, we compared spider communities with respect to different hunting guilds because they are expected to have different requirements for vegetation structure. Although we did not find differences in plant communities, vegetation height and heterogeneity were higher in exclosures compared to control plots. The diversity of insects and spiders was not affected by deer presence. However, the abundance of sheet-web weavers and ambush hunters was lower in exclosures whereas ground hunters were more common in exclosure plots. Structural changes in the vegetation changed predator hunting guilds even though mere abundance and biodiversity indices were not affected. We therefore suggest that monitoring of vegetation structure and associated functional groups seems more sensitive to assess the impact of ungulate herbivores compared to taxonomic metrics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Spider Communities Diversity)
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23 pages, 8391 KiB  
Article
Responses of Ground-Dwelling Spider (Arachnida: Araneae) Communities to Wildfire in Three Habitats in Northern New Mexico, USA, with Notes on Mites and Harvestmen (Arachnida: Acari, Opiliones)
by Sandra L. Brantley
Diversity 2020, 12(10), 396; https://doi.org/10.3390/d12100396 - 14 Oct 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2422
Abstract
Catastrophic wildfire is increasingly common in forests of the western United States because climate change is increasing ambient temperatures and periods of drought. In 2011, the Las Conchas wildfire burned in the Santa Fe National Forest of New Mexico, including portions of ponderosa [...] Read more.
Catastrophic wildfire is increasingly common in forests of the western United States because climate change is increasing ambient temperatures and periods of drought. In 2011, the Las Conchas wildfire burned in the Santa Fe National Forest of New Mexico, including portions of ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests, and grasslands in the Valles Caldera National Preserve, a large, high-elevation volcanic caldera. Following the fire, Caldera staff began monitoring abiotic, plant, and animal responses. In this study, ground-dwelling arachnids were collected in pitfall traps in burned and unburned habitats from 2011–2015. Permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) mostly at the genus level with some higher taxon levels showed significant fire, year, and interaction effects. Abundance was at or near unburned levels by 2014, but species composition changed in burned areas. Pardosa and Haplodrassus were dominant genera across habitats. Linyphiids were strong indicators of unburned sites. Harvestmen were among the dominant species in the forest habitats, and erythraeid mites were abundant in the burned ponderosa pine forest and the grassland. Years were not significantly autocorrelated, unsurprising given the interannual variation in precipitation in this generally arid region. Although fire is a common feature of these habitats, future fires may be outside of historical patterns, preventing spider communities from re-establishing fully. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Spider Communities Diversity)
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