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Journal article

Non-crop habitats in the landscape enhance spider diversity in wheat fields of a desert agroecosystem

  • Pluess, Therese University of Fribourg,Department of Biology, Switzerland - Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel - University of Bern, Switzerland
  • Opatovsky, Itai Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel
  • Gavish-Regev, Efrat Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel
  • Lubin, Yael Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel
  • Schmidt-Entling, Martin H. University of Bern, Switzerland
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    21.01.2010
Published in:
  • Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment. - 2010, vol. 137, no. 1-2, p. 68-74
Araneae
Arid climate
Ballooning
Ecosystem services
Foraging strategy
Generalist predators
Migration mode
Negev desert
Pest suppression
Spatial scale
English Spiders (Araneae) are an important group of generalist predators in arable land. In temperate climates, spiders recolonise cropland annually from the surrounding landscape. In arid climates however, irrigated crops and the surrounding landscape matrix offer sharply different habitat conditions and this might negatively affect spider migration into crops. We studied whether the spider fauna in desert crops is influenced by the surrounding landscape in a similar way to that found in temperate climates. Spiders were sampled with pitfall traps in 13 wheat fields (Triticum aestivum L.) in the Negev Desert (Israel). The fields were situated along a gradient from crop- to non-crop-dominated landscapes (1–72% non-crop habitats). Species richness of spiders in wheat fields increased with the percentage of non-crop habitats in the landscape. In addition, activity-densities of crab spiders (Thomisidae) and cobweb spiders (Theridiidae) were enhanced by high percentages of non-crop habitats in the surrounding landscape. Activity-densities of the dominant sheetweb spiders (Linyphiidae) showed no significant response to landscape composition. As the immigrant spider families employ different foraging strategies than the dominant sheetweb spiders, they functionally enriched the spider fauna in crops and potentially increase the range of prey types consumed by spiders. Thus, non-crop habitats can be expected to increase the potential for biological control by spiders in nearby crops.
Faculty
Faculté des sciences et de médecine
Department
Département de Biologie
Language
  • English
Classification
Biological sciences
License
License undefined
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://folia.unifr.ch/unifr/documents/301508
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