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Spatial Patterns of Shoreline Spiders around Human-Made Ponds
Trauffler, Lexton
Trauffler, Lexton
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Date
2020
Additional date(s)
2020-05-19
Abstract
Emergent aquatic insects bioaccumulate MeHg as larvae, then emerge from the aquatic ecosystem as adults, and transport MeHg accumulated in their tissues to terrestrial predators like spiders. Recently, there has been a focus on using shoreline spiders as sentinel species to monitor MeHg contamination in waterbodies. No studies have investigated the spatial distribution of specific spider families around human-made ponds and how they might be affected by the MeHg gradient in prey. The objective of the present study was to determine the spatial pattern of shoreline spider taxa around human-made ponds at the LBJ National Grasslands in North Texas. Eight taxa of shoreline spiders were collected using day-time sweep net samples and night-time hand samples at five distances around 14 ponds. Differences in the spatial density of shoreline spider taxa are most likely related to differences in hunting strategy and habitat use by spiders. Two taxa of web-building spiders were found to have significantly higher densities at the shoreline. Three taxa of wandering spiders were found to have significantly higher densities away from the shoreline and in vegetation. In addition, the sweep net samples and night-time hand samples caught different spider taxa and numbers of spiders. This disparity may exhibit a bias towards collecting these taxa of spiders and use of both daytime sweep net sampling and night time hand sampling may be necessary to get a sample of the spider community for the use of spiders as sentinels of MeHg contamination.
Contents
Subject
Mercury
Ponds
Spiders
Ponds
Spiders
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Research Projects
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Description
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Department
Biology