Trends in habitat suitability and conservation status of aquatic spiders in Europe

Milano, Filippo; Cardoso, Pedro; Mammola, Stefano; Smith, Helen; Isaia, Marco

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109767

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Italy is a country characterised by a rich mosaic of landscapes and high endemism due to its complex climatic, topographic and geological setting ( European Environment Agency 2023 , Nentwig et al 2024 ). Knowledge on spider distribution and community structure in Italy is, however, still largely incomplete, especially in central and southern regions ( Pantini and Isaia 2019 , Picchi 2020 ) and more research is urgently needed to provide information for appropriate conservation actions ( Branco and Cardoso 2020 , Milano et al 2021 , Milano et al 2022 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ground spiders (Chelicerata, Araneae) of an urban green space: intensive sampling in a protected area of Rome (Italy) reveals a high diversity and new records to the Italian territory

Fusco,

Fattorini,

Fortini

et al. 2024

BDJ

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Urbanisation is a rapidly growing global phenomenon leading to habitat destruction, fragmentation and degradation. However, urban areas can offer opportunities for conservation, particularly through the presence of green spaces which can even provide important habitats for imperilled species. Spiders, which play crucial roles in ecosystem functioning, include many species that can successfully exploit urban environments. Placed in the middle of the Mediterranean global biodiversity hotspot, Italy possesses an exceptionally rich spider fauna, yet comprehensive data on urban spider communities are still limited. More information on urban spiders in Italy would be extremely beneficial to support conservation efforts, especially in central and southern Italy, where knowledge on the spider fauna is largely incomplete. The current study focused on the spider diversity of a large protected area (Appia Antica Regional Park) in urban Rome, Italy. A total of 120 spider species belonging to 83 genera and 28 families were identified, with 70 species being new records to the Province of Rome, 39 to the Latium Region and two (Pelecopsis digitulus Bosmans & Abrous, 1992 and Palliduphantes arenicola (Denis, 1964)) to Italy. Forty-one species were recorded during autumn/winter sampling and 107 in spring/summer. The spider fauna recorded from the study area included about 37% of the total spider fauna known from the Province of Rome, 28% of that of the Latium Region and 7% of the entire Italian territory. The most represented families in terms of species richness were Gnaphosidae and Linyphiidae, which accounted for more than 40% of the sampled fauna. Lycosidae were the most abundant family (29% of captured individuals), followed by Zodariidae (16% of captured individuals), Linyphiidae (13% of captured individuals) and Gnaphosidae (7.5% of captured individuals). From a biogeographical point of view, most of the collected species belonged to chorotypes that extend for large areas across Europe and the Mediterranean. The research highlights the role of urban green spaces as refuges for spiders and the importance of arachnological research in urban areas as sources of information on spider biodiversity at larger scales.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ground spiders (Chelicerata, Araneae) of an urban green space: intensive sampling in a protected area of Rome (Italy) reveals a high diversity and new records to the Italian territory

Fusco,

Fattorini,

Fortini

et al. 2024

BDJ

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Adaptation and Survival of Marine-Associated Spiders (Araneae)

Leggett,

Vink,

Nelson

2024

Annu. Rev. Entomol.

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Aquatic environments are an unusual habitat for most arthropods. Nevertheless, many arthropod species that were once terrestrial dwelling have transitioned back to marine and freshwater environments, either as semiaquatic or, more rarely, as fully aquatic inhabitants. Transition to water from land is exceptional, and without respiratory modifications to allow for extended submergence and the associated hypoxic conditions, survival is limited. In this article, we review marine-associated species that have made this rare transition in a generally terrestrial group, spiders. We include several freshwater spider species for comparative purposes. Marine-associated spiders comprise less than 0.3% of spider species worldwide but are found in over 14% of all spider families. As we discuss, these spiders live in environments that, with tidal action, hydraulic forces, and saltwater, are more extreme than freshwater habitats, often requiring physiological and behavioral adaptations to survive. Spiders employ many methods to survive inundation from encroaching tides, such as air bubble respiration, airtight nests, hypoxic comas, and fleeing incoming tides. While airway protection is the primary survival strategy, further survival adaptations include saltwater-induced osmotic regulation, dietary composition, predator avoidance, reproduction, locomotory responses, and adaptation to extreme temperatures and hydrostatic pressures that challenge existence in marine environments. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Entomology, Volume 69 is January 2024. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

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Dolomedes fishing spider biology: gaps and opportunities for future research

Yu,

Roithmair,

Kurovski

et al. 2024

Front. Arachn. Sci.

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Dolomedes may easily be considered to be among the most charismatic spider taxa. Known colloquially as fishing or raft spiders, this clade of dolomedid cursorial hunters is speciose with about 100 valid species names. Most Dolomedes are large spiders that inhabit water bodies across all continents except Antarctica and, interestingly, South America. Dolomedes have captured the attention of researchers and the public alike for their ability to walk on and submerge under water, fish for prey (including small vertebrates), and for their often-bizarre mating behavior that includes examples of male spontaneous death and sexual cannibalism. In this review, we critically evaluate what is known of Dolomedes biology, focusing on their systematics and morphology, ecology, behavior, and conservation. Given their close association with water, Dolomedes may be particularly vulnerable to the impacts of anthropogenic change and provide an important group of indicator species for understanding the effect of pollution, habitat loss and climate change. We outline a roadmap for future studies that, in our view, will consolidate Dolomedes as an ideal model lineage among spiders for addressing a vast array of questions across multiple fields of biology.

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Trends in habitat suitability and conservation status of aquatic spiders in Europe

Cited by 3 publications

References 60 publications

Ground spiders (Chelicerata, Araneae) of an urban green space: intensive sampling in a protected area of Rome (Italy) reveals a high diversity and new records to the Italian territory

Ground spiders (Chelicerata, Araneae) of an urban green space: intensive sampling in a protected area of Rome (Italy) reveals a high diversity and new records to the Italian territory

Adaptation and Survival of Marine-Associated Spiders (Araneae)

Dolomedes fishing spider biology: gaps and opportunities for future research

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