Tree species and microhabitat affect forest bog spider fauna

Abstract

Peat bogs are among the most threatened habitats in Central Europe. They are characterized by stagnant water with low pH and lower nutrient content compared to the surrounding habitats. The flora and fauna of peat bogs comprised of many habitat specialist and rare species. We explored the differences in spider fauna of European spruce and Scots pine forests. Furthermore, we assessed the effect of microhabitat diversity in the bog forests of the Poiana Stampei peat bog complex, Bucovina, Romania. We collected numerous rare and cold-adapted species. .We found a strong effect of forest type, presumably due to the different microclimatic conditions of the forests. European spruce forests had lower species richness of ground-dwelling fauna than Scots pine forests; however, we found contradictory results for vegetation-dwelling species richness. Hummocks had a more positive effect on the ground-dwelling spiders of Scots pine than in European spruce forests, presumably due to the more open structure of sphagnum hummocks than ground level. However, this effect was negative for vegetation dwellers. The cold-adapted species with restricted ranges are vulnerable to climate change, and bogs may serve as important micro-refugia for them. Central European bogs are isolated and highly threatened by anthropogenic activities, such as drainage, peat extraction, and eutrophication. The deterioration habitat quality of peat bogs will result in a significant loss in the regional species pool of the Carpathians.

A Multi-Community Approach in Biodiversity Assessment of a Peat Bog in the Southern Carpathians (Romania) and Implications for Conservation

“…Studies on invertebrates in peatlands from Romania are scarce. The taxa identified most in these studies are Araneae (spiders) (Urák and Samu 2008, Gallé et al 2019, 2021). With regard to rare and vulnerable species, Cojocaru (2020) recorded a beetle species, Crenitis (Crenitis) punctatostriata Letzner (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae), from Natura 2000 site Poiana Stampei peat bog.…”

Spider Assemblages of Tree Trunks and Tree Branches in Three Developmental Phases of Primeval Oak–Lime–Hornbeam Forest in the Białowieża National Park

“…Spiders are an excellent model group with which to study the effects of changes in the structure of a forest on the animal assemblages that inhabit it. Their abundance, species richness and diversity are affected by such factors as tree species diversity, the type of forest, its structure and canopy openness [19][20][21][22][23][24].…”

Spider Assemblages of Tree Branches in Managed and Primeval Deciduous Stands of the Białowieża Forest

“…Spiders are an excellent group of organisms to use for studying the impact of human management due to their sensitivity to changes in habitat structure and microclimatic conditions [24][25][26][27]. Among the most important factors shaping the assemblages of forest spiders are the type of stand [13,28], the tree species diversity [29], tree canopy openness [30], the presence of woody debris [31], and humidity [25]. Studies concerning arboreal spiders in the Białowie ża Forest have already been conducted; however, they focused exclusively on the fauna of tree trunks [13] or tree canopies and they were carried out using the insecticidal knockdown method [9,10].…”