Hsieh, Samuel Yu-Lung
Title
Master student
Project
Ground spider diversity in Kenting uplifted coral reef forest, Taiwan: A comparison between habitats receiving various disturbance.
Abstrct
The effects various disturbances on diversity and community structures of ground spiders in Kenting National Park uplifted coral reef forest were investigated using pitfall traps. In each of the following sampling sites, ten trap stations were established evenly along the trail: primary forest (A), primary forest with tourism activities (B), secondary forest (C), grassland with tourism activities (D) and abandoned grassland (E). A total of 2237 spiders were collected, which included 20 families and 110 species. Among them 86 (78.2%) are new or new record species to Taiwan. Dominant species can be divided into two major groups according to their reproductive activity patterns generated from temporal abundance variations: dry season breeder (Linyphiidae B, Pardsa tschekiangensis, Phrurolithus lynx, Pardosa sp. J, Theridiidae G, Ctenus yaeyamensis, Linyphiidae L, Lycosidae E and Lycosidae L) and wet season breeder (Mallinella fulvipes, Mallinella shimojanai and Lycosidae B). Habitat preference of dominant species was assessed by comparing relative abundance between sampling sites. The results indicated that Pardosa tschekiangensis tends to distribute in the grassland; Mallinella fulvipes, Mallinella shimojanai and Ctenus yaeyamensis tend to distribute in the primary forests; Theridiidae G tends to distribute in secondary forest, and Lycosidae E tends to distribute in the grasslands. Shannon-Weaver function, Simpson index and evenness were not significant different between five sampling sites. Community structure of all sites was characterized by few dominant species and numerous rare species. Among 110 species obtained, 61 distributed in one sampling site only. Each sampling site exhibited between 11 to 16 unique species. Result of a cluster analysis using pair-wise Euclidean distance demonstrated that collections of 50 trap stations can be divided into four major clusters: primary forest, secondary forest, grassland I and grassland II. Foraging guild composition differed significantly among sampling sites. Primary forest site was dominated by ground level web builders, secondary forest was dominated by ground level web builders and aerial web spinners, and grassland was dominated by sit and wait ambusher. Although each sampling site receives various type of disturbance, their species richness and community structure do not differ significantly. Besides, each sampling site exhibit similar number species. These results suggest that the diversity of ground spiders in KTNP uplifted coral reef forest is quite heterogeneous, any management conduce should consider the uniqueness of each habitat type.
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Updated: Nov-20-2020 02:10:19 (Taiwan, GMT+08:00).