1. Vertical distribution of spiders in soil.
- Author
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Laška, Vratislav, Kopecký, Oldřich, Růžička, Vlastimil, Mikula, Jan, Véle, Adam, Šarapatka, Bořivoj, and Tuf, Ivan H.
- Subjects
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SPIDERS , *SPECIES distribution , *HABITATS , *UNDERGROUND areas , *ARTHROPODA , *SOIL profiles , *SHIELDS (Geology) - Abstract
Research studies of the shallow subterranean habitats as environments for arthropods have been sparse up to this point. Using subterranean traps, we studied the distribution of spiders in soil profile over a depth span of 5-95 cm at six sites. Although almost 40% of individual specimens (1088 in total) were obtained from the epigeon (5 cm depth), spiders colonized all parts of the soil profiles examined. Beside ground-dwelling species with significant preferences for the upper layers, some species (Porrhomma microphthalmum (O. Pickard-Cambridge 1871), Centromerus cavernarum (L. Koch 1872), Cicurina cicur (Fabricius 1793), Dysdera lantosquemis Simon 1882, and Nesticus cellulunus (Clerck 1757)) commonly inhabited the whole range of the profiles studied, without any depth preference. In contrast, depigmented and microphthalmous Porrhomma microps (Roewer 1931) and Maro sp. exclusively inhabited deep soil layers adjoining void systems in bedrock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2011