The Distribution of Spiders on the Moor House National Nature Reserve, Westmorland

Abstract

Systematic ecological studies on the British spider fauna are still few in number, the more important of these being an account of the spiders of Limestone grassland and oak woodland near Oxford by Duffey (1956, 1962a, b) and Turnbull (1960a) respectively, the spiders of an oak wood in Devon by Gabbutt (1956), those of sand dunes in the Gower Peninsula by Cooke & Cotton (1961), and studies on the activity of spiders in three contrasting lowland habitats by Williams (1962). With the exception of casual collecting, little seems to be known of the spiders inhabiting high moorlands, and the present investigation was undertaken as part of a continuing series of studies on the ecology of the British uplands (see Cragg 1961). This project is being carried out on the Moor House National Nature Reserve (N.R. 80) and involves qualitative and quantitative studies on the distribution and interrelations of the fauna in the wide range of habitats to be found in Pennine moorland. The present paper represents part of the studies on spiders undertaken from 1957 to 1960.