Abstract. The spider community of a beech forest on limestone was studied for one year using four sampling techniques: emergence traps, pitfall traps, soil samples, and arboreal eclectors. 87 spider species were recorded. Emergence traps and arboreal eclectors were particularly efficient in detecting spider species. Dominance identity (percentage similarity) was highest for catches from emer gence traps and pitfall traps. Species recorded were assigned to various ecological groups. In terms of proportional abundance, repre sentation of the ecological groups varied and appeared related to the sampling method used. Stratum type and type of prey capture strategy accounted for >60% of the variance in the catch results (canonical correspondence analysis). Proportional abundance of funnel-web spiders was much higher in pitfall trap catches (31.7%) than in any other method (1.0-11.6%).