Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Abundance and community structure of forest floor spiders following litter manipulation

  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

We conducted a field manipulation of forest litter to determine effects of litter structure (flat vs curly leaves) on forest floor spiders in natural and artificial leaf litter. Artificial litter made of vinyl, was nondecomposable and non-nutritive. In this way, we separated interactions of effects of litter as a nutritional base and as a spatially heterogeneous environment on litter-dwelling spiders.

Structural complexity of litter significantly affected abundances of some forest floor spiders. In particular, abundances of web-building spiders were lower in treatments of flat leaves. Litter nutritional content and structural complexity only slightly affected spider species composition and richness. Results suggest that litter depth is more influential than are litter structural complexity or nutritional content, in organizing forest floor spider communities.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anderson JM (1975) Succession, diversity and trophic relationship of some soil animals in decomposing leaf litter. J Anim Ecol 44:475–496

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson JM (1978) Inter-and intra-habitat relationships between woodland cryptostigmata species diversity and the diversity of soil and litter microhabitats. Oecologia (Berl) 32:341–348

    Google Scholar 

  • Balogh J, Loksa J (1948) Quantitative-biosoziologische untersuchung der arthropoden welt ungarischer sandgebiete. Arch biol Hung 18:65–100

    Google Scholar 

  • Berry JW (1967) The distributional ecology of spiders in the oldfield succession of the Piedmont region of North Carolina. Dissertation, Duke Univer, Durham NC

    Google Scholar 

  • Bultman TL (1981) The effect of litter structure on the abundance and community organization of forest floor arthropods. Unpubl MS Thesis, Univer of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio

    Google Scholar 

  • Bultman TL, Uetz GW, Brady AR (1982) A comparison of cursorial spider communities along a successional gradient. J Archn 10:23–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Clifford HT, Stephenson W (1975) An introduction to numerical classification. New York: Academic Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Colebourne PH (1974) The influence of habitat structure on the distribution of Araneus diadematus Clerck. J Anim Ecol 43:401–409

    Google Scholar 

  • Dowdy WW (1950) A community study of an oak-hickory association with special references to invertebrates. Amer Midl Natur 43:667–695

    Google Scholar 

  • Dueser RD, Brown WC (1980) Ecological correlates of insular rodent diversity. Ecology 61:50–56

    Google Scholar 

  • Duffey E (1966) Spider ecology and habitat structure. Senckenb Biol 47:45–49

    Google Scholar 

  • Duffey E (1975) The effects of human trampling on the fauna of grassland litter. Biol Conser 7:255–274

    Google Scholar 

  • Ford MJ (1977) Metabolic costs of the predation strategy of the spider Pardosa amentata (Clerck) (Lycosidae). Oecologia (Berl) 28:333–340

    Google Scholar 

  • Gertsch WJ (1979) American Spiders. 2nd ed. New York: VanNostrand Reinhold Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibson WW (1947) An ecological study of the spiders of a river terrace forest in western Tennessee. Ohio J Sci 47:38–44

    Google Scholar 

  • Gorman OT, Karr KR (1978) Habitat structure and stream fish communities. Ecology 59:507–515

    Google Scholar 

  • Huhta V (1971) Succession in the spider communities of the forest floor after clear-cutting and prescribed burning. Ann Zool Fenn 8:483–542

    Google Scholar 

  • Jocqué R (1973) The spider fauna of adjacent woodland areas with different humus types. Biol Jaarb 41:153–179

    Google Scholar 

  • Karr JR (1971) Structure of avian communities in selected Panama and Illinois habitats. Ecol Monogr 41:207–229

    Google Scholar 

  • Karr JR, Roth RR (1971) Vegetation structure and avian diversity in several new world areas. Am Nat 105:423–435

    Google Scholar 

  • Lowrie DC (1948) The ecological succession of spiders of the Chicago area dunes. Ecology 29:334–351

    Google Scholar 

  • Luczak J (1963) Differences in the structure of communities of web-building spiders in one type of environment (young pine forest). Ekol Pol Ser A 11:59–221

    Google Scholar 

  • MacArthur RH, MacArthur JW (1961) On bird species diversity. Ecology 42:594–598

    Google Scholar 

  • MacArthur R, Recher H, Cody M (1966) On the relationship between habitat selection and species diversity. Am Nat 100:319–332

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacArthur RH, Wilson EO (1967) The theory of island biogeography. Princeton: Princeton Univer Press

    Google Scholar 

  • M'Closkey RT (1976) Community structure in sympatric rodents. Ecology 57:728–739

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moulder BC, Reichle DE (1972) Significance of spider predation in the energy dynamics of forest floor arthropod communities. Ecol Monogr 42:473–498

    Google Scholar 

  • Murdoch WW, Evans FC, Peterson CH (1972) Diversity and patterns in plants and insects. Ecology 53:819–829

    Google Scholar 

  • Penniman AB (1975) The ecology of the spiders of the old field succession in central Ohio. Unpubl. MS Thesis, Ohio St Univer, Columbus, Ohio

    Google Scholar 

  • Pianka ER (1967) On lizard species diversity: North American flatland deserts. Ecology 48:333–351

    Google Scholar 

  • Pielou EC (1966) Species-diversity and pattern-diversity in the study of ecological succession. J Theor Biol 10:370–383

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Post WM, Reichert SE (1977) Initial investigation into the structure of spider communities. I. Competitive effects. J Anim Ecol 46:729–749

    Google Scholar 

  • Recher HF (1969) Bird species diversity and habitat diversity in Australia and North America. Am Nat 103:75–80

    Google Scholar 

  • Riechert SE (1974) Thoughts on the ecological significance of spiders. BioScience 24:352–356

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson JV (1981) The effect of architectural variation in habitat on a spider community: an experimental field study. Ecology 62:73–80

    Google Scholar 

  • Root RB (1967) The niche exploitation pattern of the blue-gray gant catcher. Ecol Monogr 37:317–350

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenzweig ML, Winakur J (1969) Population ecology of desert rodent communities: habitat and environmental complexity. Ecology 50:558–572

    Google Scholar 

  • Roth RR (1976) Spatial hererogeneity and bird species diversity. Ecology 57:773–782

    Google Scholar 

  • Rovner JS (1980) Morphological and ethological adaptations for prey capture in wolf spiders (Araneae, Lycosidae). J Archn 8:201–215

    Google Scholar 

  • Schaefer M (1978) Some experiments on the regulation of population density in the spider Floronia bacculenta (Araneida: Linyphiidae). Sym Zool Soc Lon 42:202–210

    Google Scholar 

  • Shannon CE (1948) A mathematical theory of communication. Bell Inst Tech J 27:379–423, 623–656

    Google Scholar 

  • Sokal RR, Rohlf FJ (1969) Biometry San Francisco: WH Freeman and Co

    Google Scholar 

  • Uetz GW (1975) Temporal and spatial variation in species diversity of wandering spiders (Araneae) in deciduous forest litter. Environ Entomol 4:719–724

    Google Scholar 

  • Uetz GW (1976) Gradient analysis of spider communities in a stream-side forest. Oecologia (Berl) 22:373–385

    Google Scholar 

  • Uetz GW (1979) Influence of variation of litter habitats on spider communities. Oecologia (Berl) 40:29–42

    Google Scholar 

  • Willson MF (1974) Avian community organization and habitat structure. Ecology 55:1017–1029

    Google Scholar 

  • Whittaker RH (1975) Communities and ecosystems. 2nd ed. New York: MacMillian

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. Thomas L. Bultman

    Present address: Department of Zoology, Arizona State University, 85287, Tempe, Arizona, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cincinnati, 45221, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

    Thomas L. Bultman & George W. Uetz

Authors
  1. Thomas L. Bultman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. George W. Uetz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bultman, T.L., Uetz, G.W. Abundance and community structure of forest floor spiders following litter manipulation. Oecologia 55, 34–41 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00386715

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00386715

Keywords

Search

Navigation