Ballooning of spiders (Araneae) in Switzerland: General Results from an Eleven-Year Survey

Blandenier, Gilles

doi:10.13156/arac.2009.14.7.308

Cited by 80 publications

(81 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…The trap was located in a fragmented agricultural landscape located in the western region of the Swiss Plateau (in Changins, Canton of Vaud, 46 u24980N, 6 u14900E, 440 m a.s.l., mean annual temperature: 10.8 uC, mean total amount of precipitation: 1091 mm per year during the study), at the research station Agroscope ACW Changins-Wädenswil. A short description of habitats in the area surrounding the trap can be found in Blandenier (2009 Nentwig et al (2010), Schaefer (1976 and Ysnel & Canard (1986).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the study area, earlier results based on all taxa pooled showed that aerial dispersal occurs almost year-round and that ballooning activity has two main periods, in summer and autumn (Blandenier & Fü rst 1998;Blandenier 2009). The aim of the present study was to investigate the phenology of ballooning at the species level and to understand its relationship with the ecology and habitat characteristics of the spiders.…”

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confidence: 91%

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Are phenological patterns of ballooning spiders linked to habitat characteristics?

Blandenier

Bruggisser

Rohr

et al. 2013

The Journal of Arachnology

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Abstract. We describe here the phenological patterns of the 25 most common ballooning species of spiders caught by a 12.2 m suction trap during an eleven year survey in Switzerland. We aimed at identifying and quantifying the number, position, spread, and relative weight of activity periods for the whole community. Further, we explored the possible link between phenological patterns and habitat use. For this purpose, we used bump-hunting approaches and fitted mixtures of normal distributions to the abundance data. The phenologies can be grouped in four categories, from uni-to quadrimodal. The specific peaks in the timing of ballooning were found between February and November, with most ballooning activity occurring in summer and autumn. For some taxa, it was possible to analyze the data for young instars and adults. For the majority of taxa, the adults' peak appeared between the early and late peaks of immature individuals. Species inhabiting the ground level of open areas, often disturbed by agricultural practices, were clearly dominant in the multimodal categories; spiders living in more closed and stable habitats, such as tree-shrub and herb layers, typically had a single peak of adult dispersal. This discrepancy in phenology may simply reflect different numbers of generations, but may also result from an adaptation to maximize the persistence of populations in unstable habitats.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 91%

Are phenological patterns of ballooning spiders linked to habitat characteristics?

Blandenier

Bruggisser

Rohr

et al. 2013

The Journal of Arachnology

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“…Glue rings proved to be well suited to determine the colonisation mode of arthropods, because the two species that disperse over the ground according to literature (Jacobs & Renner 1998, Blandenier 2009) were nearly absent from trees with glue rings. Densities of ballooning spider species were not reduced by glue rings.…”

Section: Colonisation Modementioning

confidence: 99%

Arthropod Colonisation of Trees in Fragmented Landscapes Depends on Species Traits

Bucher

Herrmann²,

Schüepp³

et al. 2010

TOECOLJ

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Effects of habitat fragmentation vary greatly between organisms. Traits such as dispersal mode and habitat preference may explain these differences. We predict that organisms with low dispersal abilities respond mainly to habitat isolation whereas aerial colonisers respond to the amount of suitable habitats at the landscape scale. To test these predictions 30 sites were chosen that varied independently in the level of isolation from woody habitats and in the percentage of woody habitats in 500 m circumference. At each site seven cherry trees were established. Overwintering arthropods were sampled using cardboard hides. Glue rings were attached around tree stems to distinguish between walking and aerial colonisers. As predicted for walking dispersers, earwig abundance was strongly affected by habitat isolation. In contrast, three species of ballooning spiders responded neither to glue rings nor to habitat isolation. Instead they were affected by habitat amount in accordance with their preferred habitats. These results strongly encourage the use of species traits to predict effects of landscape fragmentation on organisms. However, additional factors such as interactions between species groups need also to be taken into account.

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“…The study area is a fragmented agricultural landscape, characterized by a predominance of agroecosystems but also buildings and associated infrastructure and forests (for more details, see Blandenier, 2009). We considered the data for all municipalities located in a radius of 5 km around the suction trap and excluded lakes in the computation of surface areas (data from www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/fr/index/ themen/02/03/blank/data/gemeindedaten.html; accessed on July 2009).…”

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…We captured 15 398 spiders from 16 families and 103 taxa. The list of taxa can be found in Blandenier (2009), and the ecological classification of the species is based on Hänggi, Stöckli, and Nentwig (1995).…”

Section: Sampling Of Spidersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do spiders respond to global change? A study on the phenology of ballooning spiders in Switzerland

2014

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Ballooning of spiders (Araneae) in Switzerland: General Results from an Eleven-Year Survey

Cited by 80 publications

References 15 publications

Are phenological patterns of ballooning spiders linked to habitat characteristics?

Are phenological patterns of ballooning spiders linked to habitat characteristics?

Arthropod Colonisation of Trees in Fragmented Landscapes Depends on Species Traits

Do spiders respond to global change? A study on the phenology of ballooning spiders in Switzerland

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