Abundance of aerially-dispersing spiders declines with increasing road traffic

Martin, Amanda; Pervin, Erik; Graham, Shannon; Henry, Mle; Fahrig, Lenore

doi:10.1080/11956860.2019.1629060

Cited by 6 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…We found that these isolated green fragments in the meddle of roads are a valuable component of urban habitats, the density and biomass of arthropods in median strip were second only to urban park, while the taxa richness in median strip was relatively lower than in urban park. The median strips are highly isolated from the other systems by road lanes and traffic, resulting in a low success rate for wingless arthropods to immigrate into this system (Martin et al 2019), such as Diplopoda in our study. Despite the winged arthropods, such as Coleoptera, Homoptera and Lepidoptera, can successfully moving to the median strip, the airflow created by running cars may disturb them and could not easily settle down in the median strip, consequently, the winged arthropods (including their larva) in median strip were two times less than in urban park.…”

Section: Richness and Community Structure Of Soil Arthropods In Fragm...mentioning

confidence: 84%

Urbanization and urban habitat fragmentation do not compromise soil food web complexity and conservation value

Wang

Zhang

Qiao

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Urbanization-induced environmental changes such as habitat fragmentation impacts arthropod assemblages and food web-related ecosystem functions, such as nutrient cycling, carbon storage and energy fluxes. Yet, we lack insight into how arthropod food webs are structured along urban fragmentation gradients. Here, we investigated the community composition and food web structure of litter-dwelling arthropods along fragmentation gradients (green median strip, urban park, urban forest and natural forest). We found the density of litter-dwelling arthropods in median strip and urban park to be two to four times higher than in urban and natural forests, with, as indicated by literature-based stable isotope values, 67% - 68% of the individuals comprising primary consumers (trophic level I) in median strip and urban park. Urban forests, reserved for biodiversity conservation, hosted the least arthropod density, taxa richness, biomass and body mass, but were colonized by a high number of specialist arthropods, e.g. Archaeognatha and Isoptera. Food webs were most simple in urban forest, but more complex in median strip and urban parks, i.e. open fragments, with abundant primary and secondary consumers including decomposers. Chilopoda and Araneae formed the apex predators in fragments and mostly consumed other predators of trophic level III. The biomass of decomposed litter on the soil surface as major resource of the soil animal community significantly correlated positively with the density of arthropods of trophic levels I, III and IV. Supporting the dominance of bottom-up forces, the density of adjacent trophic levels consistently correlated positively. Overall, our results suggest that small size urban fragments maintain a diverse community of arthropods forming complex food webs and thereby may contribute to conserving biodiversity and providing important ecosystem functions.

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Section: Richness and Community Structure Of Soil Arthropods In Fragm...mentioning

confidence: 84%

Urbanization and urban habitat fragmentation do not compromise soil food web complexity and conservation value

Wang

Zhang

Qiao

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…The above conclusion suggests that jor ō spiders have a degree of tolerance to the noise and stress from anthropogenic disturbance (even though it does come with a cost), which makes sense, given their proclivity to build webs near roads to begin with. This is a trait that is not shared with other orb-weaving spiders outside of the genus; in fact, other orb-weaving species appear to be less abundant near busy roads [27], though it is not clear if this is because the traffic simply kills the spiders during the juvenal ballooning stage, or if the spiders simply avoid high-traffic areas. However, other research on a ground-dwelling, non-orb-weaving species has shown clear negative effects of busy roads on spider abundance, which was attributed to avoidance of vibrational disturbance [28].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

How Urban-Tolerant Are They? Testing Prey–Capture Behavior of Introduced Jorō Spiders (Trichonephila clavata) Next to Busy Roads

Davis,

Stewart,

Phelan

et al. 2024

Arthropoda

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An invasive orb-weaving spider from east Asia is now spreading through the southeastern United States; Trichonephila clavata (the “jorō spider”) makes large, imposing webs seemingly everywhere, including in urban landscapes, and even next to busy roads. However, areas near roads come with frequent disturbances, including auditory and vibrational, which for many animals, leads to physiological or behavioral changes. Here we tested if varying levels of road traffic affect the prey–capture behavior of jorō spiders in northeast Georgia. We visited roadsides that ranged in traffic density and exposed nearby jorō spiders to a simulated prey (a tuning fork at 128 hz frequency, touched to the web), and recorded whether or not the spider attacked it. Out of 357 total trials across 20 different roads, jorō spiders attacked the simulated prey 59% of the time, but at the local scale, there was high variability in this rate; at some roadsides, over 80% of the spiders attacked, while at others, less than 30% did. When all roads were considered collectively, there was a small but significant (negative) correlation between daily road traffic and spider attack rates. Put another way, spiders near moderate- to heavy-traffic roads were slightly less likely to attack than those near low-traffic roads (51% vs. 65%). Jorō spiders appear to be able to live near roads, but this does come with a cost in terms of prey capture. However, spiders near busier roads did not weigh less than those in other sites, suggesting they may be able to compensate for the disturbance. These findings add to the accumulating evidence around this species that points to its ability to exist in human-dominated landscapes, which will likely aid its spread in the introduced range.

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Urbanization affects web abundance and aggregation of a funnel-weaving spider, Agelenopsis pennsylvanica (Agelenidae)

Pessman,

Hays,

Agpawa

et al. 2023

Urban Ecosyst

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Abundance of aerially-dispersing spiders declines with increasing road traffic

Cited by 6 publications

References 30 publications

Urbanization and urban habitat fragmentation do not compromise soil food web complexity and conservation value

Urbanization and urban habitat fragmentation do not compromise soil food web complexity and conservation value

How Urban-Tolerant Are They? Testing Prey–Capture Behavior of Introduced Jorō Spiders (Trichonephila clavata) Next to Busy Roads

Urbanization affects web abundance and aggregation of a funnel-weaving spider, Agelenopsis pennsylvanica (Agelenidae)

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