Energetic cost of web construction and its effect on web relocation in the web-building spider Agelena limbata

Summary Although spider webs may be effective in trapping prey, they require energy for construction. The design of webs varies in complexity from species to species. I assume that the energetic cost of web construction is significantly different among web types or species. This cost may constrain foraging tactics, particularly web relocation, because web relocation also requires energy to make a new web. To clarify the effect of the cost of web construction on web relocation, the energy cost of web construction and the rate of web relocation were estimated for the spider Agelena limbata. This spider constructs a sheet-funnel web consisting of a tight mesh of silk threads. This web was costly in terms of the energy needed for construction, which ranged from 9 to 19 times the daily maintenance energy. The daily rate of web relocation was below 1%, indicating high web-site tenacity. Relocation rates of species which built different types of web were compared in relation to cost of web construction. Orbweavers, which produce less costly webs than sheet-funnel weavers, relocate webs more frequently. Sheetweavers, which make webs of intermediate cost, appear to relocate webs more frequently than sheetfunnel weavers but less frequently than orbweavers. These results suggest that the energy cost of web construction is important in determining the frequency of web relocation.     

Ecological indicators for assessing ecological success of forest restoration: a world review

Restoration is increasingly being used to reverse degradation and destruction of forest ecosystems. With increasing investment in restoration, there is an urgent need to develop effective programs to assess treatment efficacy and effects. We conducted a global review of forest restoration assessments, in order to identify geographic trends in the locations where assessments have been implemented and the specific ecological attributes (ecosystem composition, structure, and function) and indicators being used to measure effects. We found that the number of forest restoration assessments varied by region and was not related to degree of degradation or restoration need. Some regions, like Africa, which have experienced high rates of forest loss and degradation, had few assessments. The majority (43%) of assessments included indicators for only two of three key ecological attributes (composition‐structure or composition‐function) and assessments on average used fewer than three indicators per attribute. The most commonly employed indicators for composition were richness and abundance of plant species and for structure were height and diameter of trees, variables that are generally relatively easy to measure. The use of functional indicators has been increasing over time and they are now more commonly used than structural indicators. The most common functional indicators were soil functions. Most investigators evaluated treatment effects for 6–10 years after implementation. Our findings related to gaps in analysis of ecological indicators can serve as a guide for developing monitoring and assessment protocols for current global forest restoration initiatives by 2020–2030.     

Using the biomasses of soil nematode taxa as weighting factors for assessing soil food web conditions

We propose the use of nematode generic biomasses as weighting factors for calculation of nematode community indices. Three data sets were used to calculate the indices using guild-based weighting (i.e., fixed weighting of nematode guilds) and genus-based weighting (i.e., weighting based on the nematode generic biomasses). The genus-based weighting factors were quadratically correlated with guild-based weighting factors, but the genus-based weighting factors were highly variable within each nematode guild, indicating that important information was likely missing when guild-based weighting was used. Although variation patterns of in the indices in response to management practices and land use were often similar for the two weighting systems, they sometimes differed substantially, and the specific index values frequently differed depending on which weighting system was used. In addition, the absolute values of the indices were frequently found to be different between the two weighting systems. Based on the comparison of indices from the two systems, we found that the genus-based system was complementary rather than superior to the guild-based system. It was suggested that both weighting systems should be used for the calculation of the nematode community indices in a study in order to better distinguish the treatment effects.     

Challenging the practice of biodiversity offsets: ecological restoration success evaluation of a large-scale railway project

Large-scale infrastructure development projects are discussed transdisciplinarily in several domains of society. Critics often claim that environmental impact assessments lack real influence on planning, management, and monitoring. We report herein the evaluation of ecological compensation via biodiversity offsets and technical constructions with a secondary compensation function for a new railway in Austria. We asked: (1) where can ecological restoration success be detected, and (2) is our new method of a composite biotope value calculation representative for all criteria we used? We conducted a vegetation inventory on reference areas and all types of measures that created new habitats. Together with a comprehensive, spatially dense habitat mapping, evaluation of six attributes of restoration success and testing of our new method were carried out. Current threats typical for intensive agriculture have been generally reduced. Ecological compensation measures had the highest connectivity but the lowest plant community diversity. Surprisingly, technical constructions provided significantly more plant communities and hosted most Red List species. The species assemblage characteristics of compensation measures, their biotope type diversity, and their mean biotope values were, although lower, comparable to the reference. Despite the poor performance of technical areas in the final biotope values, our results call for their reconsideration as potential tools for ecological compensation by greening grey infrastructure in the near future. The tested new method provided an overall statement for the ecological restoration evaluation and could also be used for nature evidence inventories and as a valuable decision support tool in landscape planning.     

A virtual robot to model the use of regenerated legs in a web-building spider

The garden cross orb-spider, Araneus diadematus, shows behavioural responses to leg loss and regeneration that are reflected in the geometry of the web's capture spiral. We created a virtual spider robot that mimicked the web construction behaviour of thus handicapped real spiders. We used this approach to test the correctness and consistency of hypotheses about orb web construction. The behaviour of our virtual robot was implemented in a rule-based system supervising behaviour patterns that communicated with the robot's sensors and motors. By building the typical web of a nonhandicapped spider our first model failed and led to new observations on real spiders. We realized that in addition to leg position, leg posture could also be of importance. The implementation of this new hypothesis greatly improved the results of our simulation of a handicapped spider. Now simulated webs, like the real webs of handicapped spiders, had significantly more gaps in successive spiral turns compared with webs of nonhandicapped spiders. Moreover, webs built by the improved virtual spiders intercepted prey as well as the digitized real webs. However, the main factors that affected web interception frequency were prey size, size of capture area and individual variance; having a regenerated leg, surprisingly, was relatively unimportant for this trait. Copyright 1999 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.     

Beyond the green: assessing quarry restoration success through plant and beetle communities

In assessing the effectiveness of ecological restoration actions, outcomes evaluation using a multi‐taxa approach can greatly contribute to a clearer understanding of their success/failure. Since comprehensive biodiversity assessments are rarely possible, choosing taxa groups that are indicative of the ecosystem's structural and functional recovery is of major importance. Our goal was to evaluate the success of revegetation actions performed in a Mediterranean limestone quarry, using plants and epigean beetles as indicators. We compared their abundance, diversity, and community composition between revegetated sites aged 5, 13, and 19 years and a natural reference. Total plant cover significantly increased with restoration age and quickly reached reference values. However, native woody species cover dropped in the oldest site, while non‐native species became dominant. The abundance of beetles was always lower in restoration sites when compared to the reference, increasing with age, although not significantly. The richness of both plant species and beetle families was lower in restoration sites and did not show any trend towards the reference values. Finally, using nonmetric multidimensional scaling, the composition of plant and beetle communities from restoration sites showed a clear separation from the reference. Restoration efforts have successfully modified post‐quarry sites, but considerable differences remain, probably largely related to the use of the non‐native species Pinus halepensis in restoration plans. P. halepensis high cover in restoration sites greatly affects the structure of the ecosystem, and most likely its functioning too, as well as related ecosystem services, causing divergence from the reference values and compromising restoration success.     

Habitat selection and foraging success by an endangered Mediterranean cyprinid: implications for habitat restoration

Hydrobiologia - Habitat loss and degradation are causing collapses in freshwater fish in the Mediterranean region, where habitat restoration actions are still hampered by poor understanding of fish...     

Anti-predator defences of Pholcus phalangioides (Araneae, Pholcidae), a web-building and web-invading spider

The behaviours used by Pholcus phalangioides (Fuesslin) (Araneae, Pholcidae) to evade its predators were studied with particular attention being given to a special defence behaviour, whirling. To whirl, this long-legged web-building spider swings its body around in a circle, with its legs remaining on the silk. Experiments were carried out to determine the types of stimuli that elicited whirling. Touching the spider or its web elicited whirling, as did air movement over the spider, but there was no evidence that chemical stimuli from potential predators were important. Small juveniles differed from adult females and larger juveniles by more often dropping from the web instead of whirling when confronted by a potential predator. Besides catching prey on its own web P. phalangioides invades other spiders' webs to catch the other spiders. By whirling in alien webs, P. phalangioides could deter attacks by the resident spider, but P. phalangioides was less inclined to whirl when in an alien than when in its own web.     

Interdemic variation of cannibalism in a wolf spider (Pardosa monticola) inhabiting different habitat types

Abstract.  1. Cannibalism was investigated in the wolf spider Pardosa monticola (Clerck) using spiders collected from four populations with varying densities, inhabiting two different coastal dune habitat types. Sampled individuals were paired randomly and tested immediately for their cannibalism propensity.
2. The occurrence of cannibalism was found to be influenced by the size (cephalothorax width) of both the smaller and the larger spider of a pair. Larger size differences enhanced cannibalism.
3. Cannibalism rates were not significantly different in spiders from high-density compared with low-density populations. Cannibalism rates showed, however, large variability between habitat types, with higher rates in spiders from dune grasslands than from dune slacks. This is suggested to result from differences in prey availability throughout the growing season between both habitat types.
4. Different size classes of spiders did not use different microhabitats, indicating that microhabitat segregation as a cannibalism-avoidance behaviour is absent in this species.     

Food consumption and diet composition of the web-building spider Agelena limbata in two habitats

Summary Prey capture rate, food consumption, and diet composition of all developmental stages of the funnelweb spider Agelena limbata were estimated in woody and open habitats by a sight-count method. Prey availability was evaluated on the basis of two indices, i.e. the ratios of daily food consumption to dry weight of predator and to daily standard metabolic rate. These indices varied seasonally and between instars in this spider. Comparison of these indices between arthropod predators suggests that A. limbata live under conditions of relatively limited food supply. In the open habitat, the spiders reduced foraging activities to avoid heat stress at midday in summer because the sheet web was exposed to the direct rays of the sun and its temperature exceeded 40°C. The daily food consumption of adult spiders in the open habitat was about half of that in the woody habitat. The lower rate of energy intake of spiders in the open habitat may cause the observed smaller size of adults and lower fecundity. A. limbata captured a great range of prey comprising ten orders of arthropods and ate chemically defended insects, e.g. stink bugs, lady beetles, and ants which were rejected by many spiders. This generalistic foraging may be associated with limited and heterogeneous food supply in this spider.     

Differentiated macrophyte types as a habitat for rotifers in small mid-forest water bodies

The rotifer community structure may be shaped by a variety of environmental factors, including biological parameters, such as predation or competition, as well as by physical-chemical factors, among which the kind of macrophyte substratum and parameters relating to the trophic state and to the catchment area conditions are of great importance. Another impact on rotifer composition, abundance and frequency may be expected when considering differentiated macrophyte types (including helophytes, nymphaeids and elodeids) within a group of eight ponds located within a mid-forest catchment area, which was the main aim of the present study. Detailed analysis on the participation of indicator eutrophic rotifer species provided an additional goal of this investigation in order to qualify the trophic state of this kind of water body located within the Wielkopolska region, in the central western part of Poland. The presence of 117 taxa, including 7 species that are rare or infrequently distributed in the Polish fauna was recorded. The number of taxa and rotifer abundance differed greatly in respect to the specific water body and to the type of substratum. The vegetated zones dominated by elodeids were characterised by the most various and most abundant rotifer communities as well as by the highest values of the Shannon-Weaver index. This reflects a positive relationship between the heterogeneity of habitat and the structure of rotifer communities. It was also found that helophytes and the open water zone possessed the highest, while elodeids the lowest percentage of eutrophic species.     

Influence of habitat and microhabitat on epigeal spider (Araneae) assemblages in four stand types

Studies based on presence/absence of a species may provide insight into habitat associations, allowing the distribution of species to be predicted across the landscape. Our objective was to characterise the epigeal spider fauna in three mature boreal forest types (conifer, mixedwood and deciduous) and a disturbed habitat (clearcut) to provide baseline data on the spider species inhabiting major forest types of boreal northwestern Ontario, Canada. Only spring-active epigeal spiders were considered for logistical reasons. We further identified the coarse woody debris structure and microhabitat characteristics within these stand types to try to refine our ability to predict the within-stand occurrence of spiders. We found the clearcut habitat strongly dominated by the Lycosidae with 55% of spiders represented by a single species, Pardosa moesta Banks. The forested habitats were more diverse, with web-building families forming a large component of the fauna and many species represented by only a few individuals. The spider composition of the deciduous stands (aspen and mixedwood) was very similar, and distinct from that of spruce stands. Species such as Agroeca ornata (Emerton) (Liocranidae) and Pirata montanus Emerton (Lycosidae) were strongly associated with deciduous leaf litter. Within the spruce stands, Agyneta olivacea (Emerton) (Linyphiidae) and Pardosa uintana Gertsch (Lycosidae) were associated with feathermoss rather than Sphagnum microhabitats. Many of the habitat associations observed at Rinker Lake do not conform well to those described in the taxonomic literature as typical for the species. Few associations with coarse woody debris or microhabitat attributes (other than ground cover type) were found.     

A review and a framework for the integration of biodiversity monitoring at the habitat level

The monitoring of biodiversity at the level of habitats is becoming widespread in Europe and elsewhere as countries establish national habitat monitoring systems and various organisations initiate regional and local schemes. Parallel to this growth, it is increasingly important to address biodiversity changes on large spatial (e.g. continental) and temporal (e.g. decade-long) scales, which requires the integration of currently ongoing monitoring efforts. Here we review habitat monitoring and develop a framework for integrating data or activities across habitat monitoring schemes. We first identify three basic properties of monitoring activities: spatial aspect (explicitly spatial vs. non-spatial), documentation of spatial variation (field mapping vs. remote sensing) and coverage of habitats (all habitats or specific habitats in an area), and six classes of monitoring schemes based on these properties. Then we explore tasks essential for integrating schemes both within and across the major classes. Finally, we evaluate the need and potential for integration of currently existing schemes by drawing on data collected on European habitat monitoring in the EuMon project. Our results suggest a dire need for integration if we are to measure biodiversity changes across large spatial and temporal scales regarding the 2010 target and beyond. We also make recommendations for an integrated pan-European habitat monitoring scheme. Such a scheme should be based on remote sensing to record changes in land cover and habitat types over large scales, with complementary field mapping using unified methodology to provide ground truthing and to monitor small-scale changes, at least in habitat types of conservation importance.     

Pteridophytes as field indicators of natural biodiversity restoration in the Scottish flora

Summary

The pteridophyte flora of Scotland, as with that of the British Isles as a whole, is still recovering from the great reduction of its original diversity caused by the Pleistocene glaciations. However, the isolation of the British Isles, their range of suitable habitats and their climatic and edaphic opportunity has provided conditions in which processes of natural biodiversity restoration in pteridophytes can be demonstrated and monitored. The modern pteridophyte vegetation of Scotland is analyzed in this evolutionary perspective. Using the examples of both ferns and fern allies, it is suggested that it is at least as important to conserve suitable sites for the continued origin of novel taxa as it is to allow for the perpetuation of existing taxa and communities.     

Traps of carnivorous pitcher plants as a habitat: composition of the fluid, biodiversity and mutualistic activities

BACKGROUND: Carnivorous pitcher plants (CPPs) use cone-shaped leaves to trap animals for nutrient supply but are not able to kill all intruders of their traps. Numerous species, ranging from bacteria to vertrebrates, survive and propagate in the otherwise deadly traps. This paper reviews the literature on phytotelmata of CPPs. PITCHER: Fluid as a Habitat The volumes of pitchers range from 0·2 mL to 1·5 L. In Nepenthes and Cephalotus, the fluid is secreted by the trap; the other genera collect rain water. The fluid is usually acidic, rich in O(2) and contains digestive enzymes. In some taxa, toxins or detergents are found, or the fluid is extremely viscous. In Heliamphora or Sarracenia, the fluid differs little from pure water. INQUILINE: Diversity Pitcher inquilines comprise bacteria, protozoa, algae, fungi, rotifers, crustaceans, arachnids, insects and amphibia. The dominant groups are protists and Dipteran larvae. The various species of CPPs host different sets of inquilines. Sarracenia purpurea hosts up to 165 species of inquilines, followed by Nepenthes ampullaria with 59 species, compared with only three species from Brocchinia reducta. Reasons for these differences include size, the life span of the pitcher as well as its fluid. MUTUALISTIC: Activities Inquilines closely interact with their host. Some live as parasites, but the vast majority are mutualists. Beneficial activities include secretion of enzymes, feeding on the plant's prey and successive excretion of inorganic nutrients, mechanical break up of the prey, removal of excessive prey and assimilation of atmospheric N(2). CONCLUSIONS: There is strong evidence that CPPs influence their phytotelm. Two strategies can be distinguished: (1) Nepenthes and Cephalotus produce acidic, toxic or digestive fluids and host a limited diversity of inquilines. (2) Genera without efficient enzymes such as Sarracenia or Heliamphora host diverse organisms and depend to a large extent on their symbionts for prey utilization.     

Effectiveness of genera as a higher-taxon substitute for species in ant biodiversity analyses is not affected by sampling technique

Survey costs and a lack of taxonomists are often the main impediments to biodiversity inventories. The use of a higher-taxon approach that is efficient in representing species patterns within a short period of time is one way to overcome these constraints, especially if these responses are consistent at various spatial scales and sampling techniques. Here, we evaluated whether the use of pitfall trapping or Winkler extraction influenced the utility of genus as a surrogate to predict patterns of species richness and composition related to environment. The study sites were spread along 10 degrees of latitude, covering phytophysiognomies with different topographic characteristics. We recorded 450 ant species/morphospecies distributed in 70 genera. Pitfall-traps captured a larger proportion of species (77–98%) and genera (71–100%) per site. Genus was efficient in predicting variations in richness, and assemblage composition detected at the species level, using pitfall-traps or Winkler extractors. The higher-taxon approach saved approximately 40% of the surveys costs. The negative effect of the species-genus ratio was detected only on species composition, but it did not affect the quality of predictions using genera. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that genus can be used as a proxy for broader sets of species independent of sampling technique or environmental heterogeneity. The use of pitfall-traps or Winkler extractors for genus-level identification proved to be cost-efficient and time-efficient and should work well in other regions requiring conservation effort and monitoring programs.