Habitat structure determines spider diversity in highland ponds

Abstract

Wetlands (e.g. ponds, meadows) can be found in many landscapes, playing an important role in maintaining regional biodiversity and supporting heterogeneous communities. Spiders are diversified predators that are highly influenced by changes in plant community structure, heterogeneous habitats sustain high spider diversity and abundance. We investigated the characteristics of spider biodiversity in ponds with different habitat structures, by examining patterns across habitats of ponds with different vegetation levels. Sampling took place in four occasions over a year. We compared spider abundance, species richness and composition among ponds including distinct vegetation variables, related to life form, type of leaves, coverage and height. Overall 1174 individuals (194 adults) of 11 families and 37 morphospecies were sampled. We found mostly expected differences in the manner that communities were structured between different habitats. Thus, higher variability of abundance was explained for higher habitat structure of ponds. We also found differences in species composition between ponds with low emergent vegetation and higher habitat structures. Additionaly, spiders were consistently structured more by turnover than nestedness components, with a greater beta diversity of web‐builders. Our results suggest varying levels of habitat structures and species substitution shape pond spider communities, depending on habitat heterogeneity and spider guild. Those findings demonstrate the clear role of spatial habitat structure, with more spider species preferring to build webs or actively hunt at vegetated environments on ponds.

Drivers of the beta diversity of spider assemblages in southern Brazilian temporary wetlands

“…Habitat structure (area and vegetation structure) influenced spider beta diversity, while geographic distances were correlated with the variation in the richness component of dissimilarity. Several studies showed that spider composition is strongly dependent on habitat‐level variables, particularly vegetation structure (Baldissera et al ., , ; Jiménez‐Valverde & Lobo, ; Rodriguez‐Artigas et al ., ), including wetlands (Raizer & Amaral, ; Cunha et al ., ; Ávila et al ., ). In this study, the variation in the vegetation structure (coverage of undergrowth and arboreal vegetation in each wetland) was correlated with beta diversity.…”

“…The heterogeneity of vegetation coverage can influence several factors that affect spider establishment, such as microclimate and predator occurrence (Uetz, ; Jiménez‐Valverde & Lobo, ). In addition, variation in the coverage of vegetation types can differentially drive the distribution of spider guilds with different hunting strategies, which depend on the structure of the vegetation structure for finding their prey, such as web‐builder and hunting spiders (Ávila et al ., ). In relation to pond area, the size of the area is generally correlated with local richness for aquatic invertebrates in temporary wetlands (Batzer et al ., ; Stenert et al ., ) which are the main food item of wetland spiders (Batzer & Boix, ).…”

“…habitat structure, climate etc.) (Raizer & Amaral, ; Finch et al ., ; Jiménez‐Valverde et al ., ; Cunha et al ., ; Ávila et al ., ) and spatial predictors (e.g. geographic distances; spatial eigenvectors) (Carvalho et al ., ).…”

“…Habitat features related to vertical and horizontal vegetation strata, patch area, etc. can affect prey availability and the environmental conditions influencing the establishment of spider species (Raizer & Amaral, ; Tews et al ., ; Buchholz & Schröder, ; Ávila et al ., ). In this sense, variation in local habitat structure is associated with changes in spider assemblage composition (Tews et al ., ; Jiménez‐Valverde & Lobo, ; Carvalho et al ., ; Ávila et al ., ).…”

“…can affect prey availability and the environmental conditions influencing the establishment of spider species (Raizer & Amaral, ; Tews et al ., ; Buchholz & Schröder, ; Ávila et al ., ). In this sense, variation in local habitat structure is associated with changes in spider assemblage composition (Tews et al ., ; Jiménez‐Valverde & Lobo, ; Carvalho et al ., ; Ávila et al ., ). Previous studies revealed that climate is another important driver of spider distribution on a broader scale (Jiménez‐Valverde & Lobo, ; Finch et al ., ; Jiménez‐Valverde et al ., ; Carvalho et al ., ; Rodriguez‐Artigas et al ., ).…”