Diversity of soil spiders in land use and management systems in Santa Catarina, Brazil

Marcio Gonçalves Da Rosa,Antonio Domingos Brescovit,Júlio Cesar Pires Santos,Carolina Riviera Duarte Maluche Baretta,Luís Carlos Iuñes De Oliveira Filho,Dilmar Baretta

doi:10.1590/1676-0611-bn-2018-0619

Marcio Gonçalves Da Rosa, Antonio Domingos Brescovit + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.1590/1676-0611-bn-2018-0619

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Abstract

Abstract: The ability of spiders to spread over contiguous areas (Arachnida: Araneae) is directly related to soil management conditions. The objective of this work was to study the effect of land use system (LUS) on the abundance and diversity of soil spider families and their relationship with soil physical and chemical properties. The evaluated LUS were: native forest, eucalyptus reforestation, pasture, crop-livestock integration, and no-tillage crop. Samples were collected in three municipalities of Southern Plateau of Santa Catarina, considered as true replicates, during winter and summer. A total of 270 samples was taken in each area and season. The sampling points were arranged in a grid of 3 × 3 m, spaced by 30 m. We evaluated soil physical, chemical, and microbiological attributes and the abundance and diversity of spider families, collected by soil monolith and soil traps. A total of 448 spiders were captured, 152 in winter and 296 in summer, distributed in 24 families and 52 species/morphospecies. There was a seasonality effect related to the land use systems and the highest Shannon-Wiener diversity index was recorded in the native forest in both sampling periods. Most families of spiders have a direct dependence on soil physical and chemical properties, such as microporosity, exchangeable aluminum, calcium, magnesium, and potassium during the winter. Organic matter, nitrogen, pH in water, weighted average diameter, soil density, and microbial biomass carbon exhibited dependence during the summer. Vegetation type and soil management are the factors that seem to affect most the occurrence of spiders. The families Theridiidae and Nemesiidae are dependent on sites with low human intervention.

Highlights

Among the arthropods, spiders are one of the most well-known and diversified groups, occupying different niches and with a cosmopolitan distribution, a characteristic that is basically given by the capacity of exploration and adaptation to various ecological conditions (Mader et al 2016)
The fragments of forests are pointed by some authors as buffer zones in areas impacted by the agricultural activity since they work as a temporary refuge for soil organisms (Moraes et al 2015, Jesus et al 2015)
The present study aimed to evaluate the diversity of spider families in the southern Plateau of the state of Santa Catarina, under different land use and management systems, identifying variations in richness and abundance of these organisms related to an increasing gradient of land use

Summary

Introduction

Spiders are one of the most well-known and diversified groups, occupying different niches and with a cosmopolitan distribution, a characteristic that is basically given by the capacity of exploration and adaptation to various ecological conditions (Mader et al 2016). Conventional agriculture is one of the main causes of decline of biodiversity, basically for reducing the vegetal cover and structural complexity of plant communities that are often associated with the low biodiversity of other taxonomic groups (Chen et al 2011, Barsoum et al 2014), because they are predators and dependent on the organizational heterogeneity of the soil fauna. Monoculture and the suppression of forest remnants represent a challenge in terms of management of agroecosystems, especially for reducing the diversity of the soil fauna, of spider communities (Camara et al 2012). More-diversified managements such as notillage and crop-livestock integration can contribute to the sustainable production of food, which generates diverse plant biomass in amount and quality, attracting other organisms that serve as prey for spiders (Liu et al 2015). The fragments of forests are pointed by some authors as buffer zones in areas impacted by the agricultural activity since they work as a temporary refuge for soil organisms (Moraes et al 2015, Jesus et al 2015)

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