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15 May 2017 Linking Vegetation Structure and Spider Diversity in Riparian and Adjacent Habitats in Two Rivers of Central Argentina: An Analysis at Two Conceptual Levels
Mariana Griotti, Christian Muñoz-Escobar, Nelson E. Ferretti
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Abstract

The link between vegetation structure and spider diversity has been well explored in the literature. However, few studies have compared spider diversity and its response to vegetation at two conceptual levels: assemblage (species diversity) and ensemble (guild diversity). Because of this, we studied spider diversity in riparian and adjacent habitats of a river system from the Chacoan subregion in central Argentina and evaluated their linkage with vegetation structure at these two levels. To assess vegetation structure, we measured plant species richness and vegetation cover in the herb and shrub - tree layers. We collected spiders for over 6 months by using vacuum netting, sweep netting and pitfall traps. We collected 3,808 spiders belonging to 119 morphospecies, 24 families and 9 guilds. At spider assemblage level, SIMPROF analysis showed significant differences among studied habitats. At spider ensemble level, nevertheless, we found no significant differences among habitats. Concerning the linkage with vegetation structure, BIOENV test showed that spider diversity at either assemblage or ensemble level was not significantly correlated with the vegetation variables assessed. Our results indicated that spider diversity was not affected by vegetation structure. Hence, even though we found a pattern in spider assemblages among habitats, this could not be attributed to vegetation structure. In this study, we show that analyzing a community at two conceptual levels will be useful for recognizing different responses of spider communities to vegetation structure in diverse habitat types.

©The Authors 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America.
Mariana Griotti, Christian Muñoz-Escobar, and Nelson E. Ferretti "Linking Vegetation Structure and Spider Diversity in Riparian and Adjacent Habitats in Two Rivers of Central Argentina: An Analysis at Two Conceptual Levels," Environmental Entomology 46(4), 794-803, (15 May 2017). https://doi.org/10.1093/ee/nvx094
Received: 14 December 2016; Accepted: 22 April 2017; Published: 15 May 2017
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KEYWORDS
assemblage
BIOENV test
Chacoan subregion
ensemble
SIMPROF
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