Abundance of aerially-dispersing spiders declines with increasing road traffic. Issue 4 (2nd October 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Martin, Amanda E.; Pervin, E.; Graham, S. L.; Henry, M.; Fahrig, L.
• Is Part Of: Ecoscience. Volume 26:Issue 4(2019)
• Page Start: 383
• Page End: 388
• Publication Date: 2019-10-02
• Subjects: Ballooning -- road ecology -- road kill -- traffic intensity -- traffic volume; dispersion aérienne -- écologie routière -- mortalité routière -- intensité du trafic -- volume de trafic; Ecology -- Periodicals; 577
• DOI: 10.1080/11956860.2019.1629060
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1195-6860

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Roads and traffic have been implicated in population declines in a number of taxonomic groups. However, there is little research into the potential effects of roads or traffic on spiders. Here, we tested the prediction that there would be fewer aerially-dispersing (i.e., ballooning) spiders at high-traffic than low-traffic roads. We used custom-made sticky traps attached to a vehicle to collect ballooning spiders along 10 high-traffic–low-traffic rural road pairs in southeastern Ontario, Canada. We collected half as many spiders at high-traffic than low-traffic roads. This provides the first published evidence of negative traffic effects on ballooning spiders. Although consistent with our prediction that ballooning spiders are less abundant at high-traffic roads, there are several possible explanations for this finding. Further study is needed to investigate these explanations, including whether the observed traffic effect reflects reduced population sizes near high-traffic roads or reduced ballooning behaviour near high-traffic roads. If the former, then roads may represent a significant conservation concern for ballooning spider species.