Spiders (Arachnida, Araneae) of the Visimskiy Biosphere Reserve (Middle Urals): 37 years of arachnological research.

Abstract

More than 30 articles concerning spiders' diversity and assemblages' structure within the Visimskiy Reserve have been published since its establishment 52 years ago. The literature provides data on 260 recorded species, one of which has been described as a new species. The majority of these records were not annotated. The peak of publication activity was in the 2nd part of the 1990s and the beginning of the 21st century. The greatest amount of material was collected between 2012 and 2018, within long-term plots with quantitative observations of epigean and litter-dwelling spiders, focusing on wind-throw and post-fire successions. This article summarises all the literature and field primary data. We also list 18 species new to the reserve's fauna, which currently comprises 278 species. Doubtful and invalid records have been excluded from the species list. The occurrences in the dataset are supported by detailed information about vegetation cover at the time of collection. This is important in the context of research on fauna and community changes along the vegetation succession, including wind-thrown and post-fire restoration.