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1 July 2018 Ups and Downs among Danish Urban Harvestmen
Søren Toft
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Abstract

The opilionid fauna of Northern Europe, including Denmark, has become enriched by range expansion of several species originating from southern Europe, and this process is expected to continue into the future. I present data that describe the changing occurrence (relative abundance, locality representation) of invasive as well as native harvestman species from the urban habitat in Denmark during the 30 year period 1987 to 2017. Three invasive species and three native species have increased both in relative abundance and in the proportion of towns from which they occurred during standardized searches. Another three species showed consistently decreasing trends. Of these, Leiobunum gracile decreased dramatically from being one of the most dominant species to near extinction. Opilio parietinus and Mitopus morio were consistently but less seriously reduced. The abundance of species in the standardized searches varied idiosyncratically in relation to geography (latitude, longitude) and season. Harvestman numbers were negatively correlated with town size (number of inhabitants).

Søren Toft "Ups and Downs among Danish Urban Harvestmen," Arachnology 17(8), 394-398, (1 July 2018). https://doi.org/10.13156/arac.2017.17.8.394
Published: 1 July 2018
KEYWORDS
invasive species
Native species
Opiliones
population fluctuations
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