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Understory spider assemblages from a cloud forest in Chiapas, Mexico, and their relationships to environmental variables

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Abstract

Cloud forests have high ecological complexity, but their reduced area and exploitation by human communities, make them one of the most endangered ecosystems in Mexico. The spider assemblages of a cloud forest reserve in Chiapas, Mexico, were studied to analyze influence of environmental variables (forest stand structure, temperature and relative humidity) and their temporal variation, on the distribution, abundance, species richness and assemblage structure of spiders. Ten parcels were established for the sampling of spiders and the recording of forest and climatic variables. Spider sampling took place during the dry and rainy seasons. Vegetation data were recorded at the end of the study (except canopy cover, which was registered at the end of each season). Some differences were found among parcels in forest stand structure, but only the density of seedlings showed a high correlation with spider abundance, seemingly seedlings (by its size and architecture) offered numerous supports for the understory spiders’ webs and then promote the settlement of weaver spiders. Also there were some correspondences between the similarity patterns of forest structure and spider assemblages, giving some evidence of a forest structure influence on the integration of spiders’ assemblages. Spider abundance was notoriously higher in the dry season. Other environmental variables had only weak effects on spider variables (abundance and species richness) and assemblage structure. The most abundant families were Tetragnathidae, Theridiidae and Linyphiidae, which were also among the dominant families in other tropical cloud forests, with the latter two also being among the most diverse. As complex ecosystems, tropical cloud forests seem to have complicated interactions with their inhabitant animals, not easy to elucidate.

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Acknowledgments

We thank G. G. Angulo and J. F. Gómez (ECOSUR) for the assistance in collecting specimens. Thanks to Miriam Janette Gonzáles García and rangers Ismael, Edilberto, Ramiro and Enelfo (Reserva de la Biosfera El Triunfo, Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas, CONANP) for the logistic support and access to the camp in El Triunfo Biosfere Reserve. F. J. Valle-Mora (ECOSUR) assisted in the statistical analyses. Three reviewers suggested valuable improvements to the manuscript. Spiders specimens were collected in El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve under permit of SEMARNAT to G. Ibarra-Núñez (SGPA/DGVS/00329/14). The Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT) of Mexico supported this project (179476) and supported E. F. Campuzano with a master fellowship.

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  1. El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), Unidad Tapachula, Apdo. Postal 36, Carretera Antiguo Aeropuerto Km. 2.5, 30700, Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico

    Emmanuel F. Campuzano, Guillermo Ibarra-Núñez, Eduardo Rafael Chamé-Vázquez & Héctor Montaño-Moreno

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  1. Emmanuel F. Campuzano
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  2. Guillermo Ibarra-Núñez
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  3. Eduardo Rafael Chamé-Vázquez
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Correspondence to Guillermo Ibarra-Núñez.

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Campuzano, E.F., Ibarra-Núñez, G., Chamé-Vázquez, E.R. et al. Understory spider assemblages from a cloud forest in Chiapas, Mexico, and their relationships to environmental variables. Arthropod-Plant Interactions 10, 237–248 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11829-016-9426-z

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