Plant-dwelling spider communities of three developmental phases in primeval oak-lime-hornbeam forest in the Białowieża National Park, Poland

Abstract

The Białowieża Forest is the only place in Europe where the full development cycle of temperate forest can be observed on a large scale, starting from the regeneration phase until the terminal (decay) phase. At present, the terminal phase is not observed in most forests in Europe due to management practices such as logging and removal of dead trees. In this study, we analysed plant-dwelling spider communities in three developmental phases (optimal, terminal and regeneration) of a primeval oak-lime-hornbeam stand in the Białowieża National Park. Spiders were sampled from May to October in 1998 and 1999 using a sweep net. A total of 3693 spider individuals from 13 families were collected, of which 2278 were identified at the species level. In total, 63 spider species were recorded (including species identified based only on juvenile individuals): 33 in the optimal phase, 36 in the terminal phase, and 41 in the regeneration phase. The composition of plant-dwelling spider communities in three developmental phases was similar. Among adult individuals, Linyphia triangularis (Clerck, 1757) was the most numerous species on the plot in the optimal phase, whereas Bathyphantes nigrinus (Westring, 1851) was the most abundant species on the plots in the terminal and regeneration phases of the stand development. Significantly higher species diversity (calculated for the whole study period) was found in the regeneration and optimal phases compared to the terminal phase. We revealed no difference in the abundance, species richness, and species diversity (calculated per sample) between the analysed plots. On the other hand, each of the developmental stages was characterised by a significant proportion of exclusive species, even though they were represented by a few individuals. This suggests that the presence of different forest stages in a given area favours higher species diversity.