Riparian spiders indicate the magnitude and sources of polychlorinated biphenyl contamination at a large contaminated sediment site

Walters, David; Otter, Ryan R.; Kraus, Johanna M.

doi:10.1002/etc.4216

Cited by 24 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…The ecological interactions of spiders, the most abundant terrestrial arthropod predator group found on every life‐supporting landmass, are pivotal in many ecological networks (Riechert & Lockley, ; Turnbull, ). As such, they have received a lot of attention by food web ecologists of diverse fields including pest control (Holland et al, ), pollutant transfers (Kraus et al, ; Walters, Otter, Kraus, & Mills, ), and cross‐ecosystem fluxes (Lafage et al, ). Spiders feed on predigested fluids of their prey, restricting field studies of spider diet to direct observation, stable isotope analysis, and molecular analysis (Birkhofer et al, ; Pompanon et al, ; Symondson, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A new primer for metabarcoding of spider gut contents

et al. 2019

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As a key predator group, spiders have received a lot of attention by food web ecologists. The difficulty involved in studying their diet has led to the use of new technologies such as metabarcoding of gut contents. The amplification of a broad range of spider prey without amplifying spiders themselves is challenging. Until now, an efficient universal primer for this purpose was not available. We developed a novel forward primer (NoSpi2) targeting the COI gene. The primer was designed not to amplify spiders of Pardosa genus while amplifying most other invertebrates. NoSpi2 was tested together with the reverse primer BR2 in silico, in vitro on single specimens of prey and spiders, on mock and malaise trap communities, and in an ecological application. In silico evaluation predicted high primer bias for Pardosa species and more generally for spiders of the oval calamistrum clade (Lycosidae and closely related species) and low bias for other invertebrates. These results were confirmed by in vitro tests. Additionally, some spider families were not amplified contrary to our expectations. We demonstrated a high efficiency for the primer pair NoSpi2/BR2 which recovered 94% of taxa in the mock community and 85% of the taxa detected by the best invertebrate primer pair known for the malaise trap community. The field experiment showed that Lycosidae (Hygrolycosa, Pardosa, Piratula, Trochosa) DNA is not amplified by NoSpi2/BR2. It demonstrated a broad range of detectable prey species (12 orders, 67 families, 117 species). The ability of NoSpi2/BR2 primer to reliably amplify prey species, without amplifying any predator DNA, makes it an ideal choice for gut content analysis for lycosid species and related species, even enabling the homogenization of entire specimens without dissection. Given that the detected prey species included other spiders and carabid beetles, this primer could be also used to study intraguild predation.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A new primer for metabarcoding of spider gut contents

et al. 2019

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“…These findings underscore the importance of considering taxon when designing and evaluating screening‐level ecological risk assessments because the taxa sampled can have substantial effects on the conclusions reached. For sites contaminated with MeHg, we suggest that tetragnathid tissue concentrations are preferable to other taxa because they not only provide a conservative estimate of risk but also may provide an additional line of evidence that, if necessary, could be used to characterize the effectiveness of future remediation efforts (e.g., Kraus et al 2017; Walters et al 2018). We do note that the utility of tetragnathids is contingent on their abundance, and their use may be complicated by biomass requirements necessary to achieve target method detection limits (Beaubien et al 2019).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To date, no study has examined the importance of different spider taxa in the calculation of MeHg risk to birds. Given the recent results of Ortega‐Rodriguez et al (2019) and Walters et al (2018), which demonstrated that both MeHg and PCB concentrations can vary significantly among riparian spider taxa, it is important to determine whether taxa differences are great enough to warrant consideration in risk assessments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Spider Exposure Pathway and the Potential Risk to Arachnivorous Birds

Beaubien

Olson

Todd

et al. 2020

Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry

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There is growing concern over the health of North American birds, with evidence suggesting substantial population declines. Spiders are prominent dietary items for many bird species and mediate the transfer of contaminants to arachnivorous birds that consume them. Few studies have investigated the potential risk the spider exposure pathway poses to these birds because most studies have focused on piscivores. In the present study, we developed new chronic and acute As, Cd, Cu, Pb, Ni, Se, Zn, and MeHg spider-based avian wildlife values (SBAWVs) for multiple adult and nestling birds (primarily passerines) and then used the newly generated SBAWVs to characterize the risk to birds across 2 study areas: 1) 5 reaches in the southern Appalachian Mountains, an area with substantial mercury deposition but minimal anthropogenic impact, and 2) 4 reaches adjacent to the Emory River, an area impacted by the largest fly coal-ash spill in US history. We identified MeHg and Cu, Pb, Se, and Zn as contaminants of potential concern (COPC) at the Appalachian Mountain and Emory River study areas, respectively, based on dietary exposure of aquatic contaminants via riparian spiders. The identification of COPC at both study areas due to dietary spider exposure is notable not only because the spider exposure pathway has largely been uninvestigated at these sites but also because the aquatic systems in both areas have been studied extensively. Significant differences in MeHg concentrations were detected among spider taxa and suggest that the selection of spider taxa can impact risk characterization. These results indicate that the spider exposure pathway is important to consider when assessing potential risk, particularly for passerine birds.

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“…Increased erodibility results in a decrease in the depth of fertile topsoil and an increase of sediment within streams. These sediments often contain metals such as lead, chromium or zinc, pesticides such as DDT, other organics such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), or various other synthetic chemicals that may be toxic to aquatic and terrestrial species, and may also be linked to human health via the food chain (see, for example: Pavlović et al, 2016;Walters et al, 2018;Bing et al, 2019).…”

Section: Effects Of Urbanizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prioritizing riparian corridors for ecosystem restoration in urbanizing watersheds

Atkinson

Lake

2020

PeerJ

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Background Riparian corridors can affect nutrient, organic matter, and sediment transport, all of which shape water quality in streams and connected downstream waters. When functioning riparian corridors remain intact, they provide highly valued water quality ecosystem services. However, in rapidly urbanizing watersheds, riparian corridors are susceptible to development modifications that adversely affect those ecosystem services. Protecting high quality riparian corridors or restoring low quality corridors are widely advocated as watershed level water quality management options for protecting those ecosystem services. The two approaches, protection or restoration, should be viewed as complementary by watershed managers and provide a foundation for targeting highly functioning riparian corridors for protection or for identifying poorly functioning corridors for restoration. Ascertaining which strategy to use is often motivated by a specific ecosystem service, for example water quality, upon which watershed management is focused. We have previously reported on a spatially explicit model that focused on identifying riparian corridors that have specific characteristics that make them well suited for purposes of preservation and protection focused on water quality. Here we hypothesize that focusing on restoration, rather than protection, can be the basis for developing a watershed level strategy for improving water quality in urbanizing watersheds. Methods The model described here represents a geographic information system (GIS) based approach that utilizes riparian characteristics extracted from 40-meter wide corridors centered on streams and rivers. The model focuses on drinking water reservoir watersheds that can be analyzed at the sub-watershed level. Sub-watershed riparian data (vegetation, soil erodibility and surface slope) are scaled and weighted based on watershed management theories for water quality, and riparian restoration scores are assigned. Those scores are used to rank order riparian zones –the lower the score the higher the priority for riparian restoration. Results The model was applied to 90 sub-watersheds in the watershed of an important drinking water reservoir in north central Texas, USA. Results from this study area suggest that corridor scores were found to be most correlated to the amount of: forested vegetation, residential land use, soils in the highest erodibility class, and highest surface slope (r2 = 0.92, p < 0.0001). Scores allow watershed managers to rapidly focus on riparian corridors most in need of restoration. A beneficial feature of the model is that it also allows investigation of multiple scenarios of restoration strategies (e.g., revegetation, soil stabilization, flood plain leveling), giving watershed managers a tool to compare and contrast watershed level management plans.

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Riparian spiders indicate the magnitude and sources of polychlorinated biphenyl contamination at a large contaminated sediment site

Cited by 24 publications

References 19 publications

A new primer for metabarcoding of spider gut contents

A new primer for metabarcoding of spider gut contents

The Spider Exposure Pathway and the Potential Risk to Arachnivorous Birds

Prioritizing riparian corridors for ecosystem restoration in urbanizing watersheds

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