High genetic diversity of spider species in a mosaic montane grassland landscape

Botham, Jason Lee; Haddad, Charles R.; Gryzenhout, Marieka; Swart, Vaughn R.; Bredenhand, Emile

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0234437

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 105 publications

(133 reference statements)

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“…Several studies found ballooning dispersal behaviour to be related to small body sizes (Dean & Sterling, 1985;Greenstone et al, 1987) and vegetation structure (Blandenier, 2009). Dispersal by ballooning is associated with high gene flow and weak population structure, even in mountainous landscapes (Botham et al, 2020) and can influence the occurrence and the composition of spider communities (Bonte et al, 2003a(Bonte et al, , 2004Jiménez-Valverde et al, 2010). In contrast, the level of habitat specialisation seems to be negatively related to the ballooning ability (Bonte et al, 2003b), as a high tendency to balloon increases the risk of reaching potential unsuitable habitats and therefore should increase population structuring.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What DNA barcodes reveal: microhabitat preference, hunting strategy and dispersal ability drive genetic variation across Iberian spider species

Domènech

Malumbres‐Olarte

Enguidanos

et al. 2021

Insect Conserv Diversity

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1. The current rate of species loss calls for immediate actions to preserve biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Cataloguing species richness and composition, and revealing how diversity is geographically distributed are the first steps towards designing efficient conservation strategies.2. Here, we aim to determine diversity patterns and potential drivers of taxonomic and genetic diversity and population structure of Iberian spiders. We used a community level perspective, analysing more than 3000 DNA barcode sequences representing $370 spider species dwelling in white-oak forest habitats across the Spanish National Park network.3. By combining and comparing morphological and DNA barcode-based species delimitation methods, we assessed their performance and identified putative factors behind cases of incongruence. Our findings uncovered potential overlooked diversity as suggested by the geographic patterns of genetic variation and put a red flag on those taxa that may be undergoing overlooked evolutionary or ecological processes.4. Spider functional traits associated with foraging strategy, microhabitat preference, ballooning ability and circadian activity explained the observed patterns of population structure across species but did not explain variation in genetic diversity. Overall, our study represents a major step forward in the understanding of large-scale diversity patterns in Iberian spiders at the community level and provides relevant information to guide future conservation strategies of the so-far largely overlooked invertebrate diversity.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What DNA barcodes reveal: microhabitat preference, hunting strategy and dispersal ability drive genetic variation across Iberian spider species

Domènech

Malumbres‐Olarte

Enguidanos

et al. 2021

Insect Conserv Diversity

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“…We can conclude that ballooning is the key factor affecting expansion potential in spiders, in its turn associated with producing cobwebs; hence, cobweb building, which independently evolved in several clades of spiders (Fernández et al., 2014 ), is an important general adaptation, not only for saving energy while catching prey (Eberhard, 1990 for review) but also increasing dispersal rates on short (Botham et al., 2020 ), middle (Domènech et al., 2022 ), as well as on very large distances (this study), and hence, the effective size of spider populations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

How dispersal rates depend on the prey capture strategy: A case study of Georgia's spiders

Tarkhnishvili,

Seropian,

Erhardt

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

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Large‐scale barcoding projects help to aggregate information on genetic variability of multiple species throughout their ranges. Comparing DNA sequences of both non‐conspecific and conspecific individuals from distant parts of their ranges helps to compare level of genetic isolation‐by‐distance patterns in different species and adaptive types. We compared mitochondrial CO1 gene sequences of 223 spiders from Georgia (Caucasus), representing 124 species and eight families, with 3097 homological sequences from spiders mostly from Europe, but also from other parts of the World. In most families, a significant isolation‐by distance pattern was observed on family level. On species level, a significant isolation‐by‐distance was observed in 40 species, although this low proportion is most likely related to a lack of data. Simultaneously, remarkable differences in spatial structure were shown for different species. Although the majority of the studied species have a broad western Palearctic range, web‐building spiders from families Araneidae, Theridiidae, and Linyphiidae are less isolated spatially than flower spiders (Thomisidae), jumping spiders (Salticidae), wolf spiders (Lycosidae), sac spiders (Clubionidae), and ground spiders (Gnaphosidae). This pattern is related with more common ballooning in web building than in actively hunting spiders, which commonly remain isolated since preglacial time. Ground spiders build the most isolated populations in the Caucasus.

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The Afromontane Research Unit: Driving Connections and Capacity Building for the Sustainable Development of Southern African Mountains

Clark

Mukwada

Hansen

et al. 2021

Mountain Research and Development

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High genetic diversity of spider species in a mosaic montane grassland landscape

Abstract: Gene flow and genetic variation were examined within and among populations of five of the most common spider species in shrublands of the mountainous Golden Gate Highlands National Park (GGHNP), South Africa. These species included three active hunters, Dendryphantes purcelli

Cited by 5 publications

References 105 publications

What DNA barcodes reveal: microhabitat preference, hunting strategy and dispersal ability drive genetic variation across Iberian spider species

What DNA barcodes reveal: microhabitat preference, hunting strategy and dispersal ability drive genetic variation across Iberian spider species

How dispersal rates depend on the prey capture strategy: A case study of Georgia's spiders

The Afromontane Research Unit: Driving Connections and Capacity Building for the Sustainable Development of Southern African Mountains

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