Journal ArticleDOI
Determinants of web spider species diversity: Vegetation structural diversity vs. prey availability
TLDR
The hypotheses that vegetation structural diversity and prey availability determine alpha diversity were examined for scrub- and meadow-inhabiting web spider species assemblages along elevational gradients in Costa Rica and California.Abstract:
The hypotheses that vegetation structural diversity and prey availability determine alpha diversity were examined for scrub- and meadow-inhabiting web spider species assemblages along elevational gradients in Costa Rica and California Prey availabilities were estimated by sticky trap catches, using only the orders and size classes of insects actually captured by the spiders The measured component of vegetation structural diversity was the maximum tip height in 20 cm increments from 0 to 20 m Spider species diversity and vegetation tip height diversity were both expressed by the Inverse Simpson Index Web spider species diversity is highly significantly correlated with vegetation tip height diversity Prey availability is not a significant predictor of web spider species diversity in these habitatsread more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Animal species diversity driven by habitat heterogeneity/diversity: the importance of keystone structures
Jörg Tews,Ulrich Brose,Volker Grimm,Katja Tielbörger,Matthias C. Wichmann,Monika Schwager,Florian Jeltsch +6 more
TL;DR: It is shown that ecological effects of habitat heterogeneity may vary considerably between species groups depending on whether structural attributes are perceived as heterogeneity or fragmentation, and possible effects may also vary relative to the structural variable measured.
Book ChapterDOI
Habitat structure and spider foraging
TL;DR: Barth et al. as discussed by the authors observed that the physiognomy or physical structure of environments has an important influence on the habitat preferences of spider species, and ultimately on the composition of spider communities.
Journal ArticleDOI
The future of urban agriculture and biodiversity-ecosystem services: Challenges and next steps
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a survey of the existing research on the characteristics of urban agricultural management and their potential to support ecosystem service delivery, and examine: (1) biodiversity patterns in UA, (2) ecosystem services provided by UA, and (3) the challenges of promoting UA systems that support biodiversity and ecosystem services.
Journal ArticleDOI
Composition, abundance and pest control potential of spider communities in agroecosystems: a comparison of European and US studies
Martin Nyffeler,K. D. Sunderland +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the differences between continents in spider guild structure, density and feeding patterns highlighted in this paper are likely to be attributable to climatic differences, and this is associated with greater habitat diversity which is known to increase spider abundance.
Journal ArticleDOI
Function and Phylogeny of Spider Webs
TL;DR: A general discussion of the designs and functions of the silk structures spiders use to capture prey has not been attempted since the book of Witt et al (319).
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Diversity and Evenness: A Unifying Notation and Its Consequences
TL;DR: Three commonly used measures of diversity, Simpson's index, Shannon's entropy, and the total number of species, are related to Renyi's definition of a generalized entropy, according to which there is a continuum of possible diversity measures.
Journal ArticleDOI
Latitudinal gradients in species diversity: a review of concepts
TL;DR: The six major hypotheses of the control of species diversity are restated, examined, and some possible tests suggested.