Spiders as ecological indicators: an overview for Australia

Abstract

Spiders operate as a dominant predator complex which can influence the structure of terrestrial invertebrate communities. The potential use of spiders as indicators of ecological change, amongst a suite of selected taxa, is worthy of further research. Indicator taxa need to be diverse and abundant, readily sampled, functionally significant, and to interact with their environment in a way that can reflect aspects of ecological change. This paper examines the attributes of spiders in terms of these criteria, with an Australian perspective, and proposes the use of families as functional groups to represent divergent foraging strategies and selection of prey types. With such information gain, and reduced impact of the "taxonomic impediment", the cost-benefit of surveys is enhanced to encourage the wider collation of quantitative spider data for management or conservation purposes.