A protocol for online documentation of spider biodiversity inventories applied to a Mexican tropical wet forest (Araneae, Araneomorphae)

Abstract

Spider community inventories have relatively well-established standardized collecting protocols. Such protocols set rules for the orderly acquisition of samples to estimate community parameters and to establish comparisons between areas. These methods have been tested worldwide, providing useful data for inventory planning and optimal sampling allocation efforts. The taxonomic counterpart of biodiversity inventories has received considerably less attention. Species lists and their relative abundances are the only link between the community parameters resulting from a biotic inventory and the biology of the species that live there. However, this connection is lost or speculative at best for species only partially identified (e. g., to genus but not to species). This link is particularly important for diverse tropical regions were many taxa are undescribed or little known such as spiders. One approach to this problem has been the development of biodiversity inventory websites that document the morphology of the species with digital images organized as standard views. Their main contributions are the dissemination of phenotypic data for species difficult to identify or new with the assignment of species codes, allowing species comparisons between areas regardless of their taxonomic status. The present paper describes a protocol to produce these websites almost automatically. This protocol was successfully applied to 237 species from a tropical primary forest in Mexico. The time and infrastructure required for the documentation of these species are discussed. Taxonomic information in terms of identification challenges, possible new species, and potential nomenclatural issues is described. In addition, the conventional community parameters (e. g., inventory completeness, species richness estimations, sampling intensity) are also calculated and compared through time and between methods. An optimized version for sampling allocation effort per season is presented and compared with protocols optimized for other tropical forests.

Integration or minimalism: twenty-one new species of ghost spiders (Anyphaenidae: Anyphaena) from Mexico

“…Online phenotypic documentation for all species was done following a recent protocol that organizes digital images as standard views across spider diversity inventories. It uses a few high-resolution images of standard views that cover the main genital and somatic diagnostic characters (Álvarez-Padilla et al 2020). Images were taken with the following Nikon equipment: digital cameras, a DS-Fi1 connected to the dissecting microscope SMZ1270 and a DS-Fi2 connected to the glass slide microscope E200, both cameras controlled with a desktop Dell Inspiron 660s; SMZ1000 and E200 microscopes, both sharing a DS-Fi3 connected to a HP Slimline 270-a0xx.…”

“…A single one-hectare plot was established with central coordinates 18.58225° N, 95.07558° W, alt. 217-172 m. Four expeditions were made from May 2016 to February 2018 (2017 was sampled only once for logistical reasons) (Álvarez-Padilla et al 2020).…”

“…Still, this step does require some time and level of familiarity with the taxonomic group and their literature that is not always readily available. Generating open access image libraries (Álvarez-Padilla 2012;Rivera-Quiroz et al 2016;Álvarez-Padilla et al 2020) and taxonomic literature repositories (WSC 2022) allows sharing information worldwide, facilitating communication and reaching experts who can expedite and improve species identifications, even opening the door to 'e-specimens' based collaborations.…”

“…Other attempts to expedite species identifications and descriptions include the publication of online catalogs for morphological documentation applied to spider diversity inventories (Ramirez 2003;Alvarez-Padilla 2012;Miller & Sac 2014;Álvarez-Padilla et al 2020;Garcilazo-Cruz & Álvarez-Padilla 2022). These online catalogs allow the recognition of the existence of taxa, sharing their relevant data even before the taxon in question has been formally described.…”

“…These online catalogs allow the recognition of the existence of taxa, sharing their relevant data even before the taxon in question has been formally described. Furthermore, this model allows the world-wide collaboration between experts for new species discovery without the need of sharing physical specimens Álvarez-Padilla et al 2020). Lastly, the implementation of prospective data sharing (Agosti & Egloff 2009;Miller et al 2012;Agosti et al 2019;Chester et al 2019) as implemented by this and a number of other taxonomic journals aids in the access and dissemination of biodiversity data within global databases such as Plazi (Plazi 2020) and GBIF (GBIF 2022).…”