Small to large-scale patterns of ground-dwelling spider (Araneae) diversity across northern Canada

Abstract

We examined how Arctic spider (Araneae) biodiversity is distributed at multiple spatial scales in northern Canada using a standardized hierarchical sampling design. We investigated which drivers, environmental or spatial, influence the patterns observed. Spatial patterns of Arctic spider species richness and composition were assessed in 12 sites located in arctic, subarctic, and north boreal ecoclimatic regions, spanning 30 degrees of latitude and 80 degrees of longitude. Variation in diversity was partitioned in relation to multiple environmental and spatial drivers of diversity patterns. Over 23 000 adult spiders, representing 306 species in 14 families, were collected in northern Canada, with 107 species (35% of the total species collected) representing new territorial or provincial records. Spider diversity was structured at the regional scale across ecoclimatic regions but was not structured with latitude. Longitudinal patterns of spider diversity across Canada may be explained by post-glacial dispersal. At local scales, diversity was non-randomly distributed and possibly limited by biotic interactions. We recommend the use of ecoclimatic regions as a framework for conservation of biodiversity in northern Canada and spiders as useful bioindicators that can help us understand the effects of climate change across ecoclimatic regions of northern Canada.

Dispersal limitation shapes distance‐decay patterns of European spiders at the continental scale

“…Besides leading to marked North–South differences in distance‐decay patterns, dispersal limitation and incomplete postglacial colonization also resulted in northern faunas being a subset of southern ones, as has also been observed in a variety of taxa (e.g. Fattorini & Ulrich, 2012; Griffiths, 2017; Hortal et al., 2011), including spiders in northern Canada (Loboda & Buddle, 2018) and subterranean spiders in Europe (Mammola et al., 2019). It could be argued that environmental tolerances in a climatic gradient may also produce a nested structure if only organisms with high tolerance could colonize the extreme climates of northern Europe (Ulrich et al., 2009).…”

Assemblage of spider diversity in Okkarai region of Pachamalai hills, Eastern Ghats, Tiruchirappalli district, Tamil Nadu, India

“…Spiders will be more susceptible to changes in vegetation if they depend on a particular vegetation structure for their web-building or foraging needs (Thery & Casas, 2002). In terms of the overall diversity of spiders, these avowals can apply to the current study, since the strong link between characteristics pertaining about vegetation (Jiménez-Valverde et al, 2010;Loboda & Buddle, 2018) and/or habitat heterogeneity (Finch et al, 2008) suggest that spider diversity is influenced by the vegetation's structural diversity.…”

Spiders (Aranei) of Wrangel Island, Russia. 1. New data on the species composition and distribution

“…On the most other islands the species richness varies from 8 to 22 species. The latter include islands so different in location and Pleistocene history as Svalbard [Coulson et al, 2014], Novaya Zemlya and Vaygach [Tanasevitch, 2017[Tanasevitch, , 2018, Shokalsky [Nekhaeva, 2018], Sibiryakova [Tanasevitch et al, 2020], Banks [Loboda, Buddle, 2018], Ellesmere [Leach, 1966], Devon [Leech, Ryan, 1972]; Southampton [Pickavance, 2006]. Only the spider fauna of Wrangel Is.…”