Abstract
Protected areas alone cannot conserve all biodiversity; we must also conserve biodiversity within production landscapes. Little is known about spider diversity in the Cape Floristic Region (CFR) biodiversity hotspot and factors driving spider diversity in transformed landscapes. Here, we assess spatial patterns of spiders in different transformed biotopes bordering remnant fynbos natural vegetation patches, determine direction of associated edge effects, and identify environmental factors influencing spider local distribution. Spiders were sampled along replicated transects running from remnant patches into three different transformed biotopes: old-fields (abandoned farmland), vineyards, and alien tree plantations. Spider Shannon diversity within old-fields and plantations did not differ from remnant patches, which had the highest diversity, whereas vineyards had the lowest. Overall, spider diversity was consistently high around habitat boundaries, regardless of land use type. Vineyards showed sharp declines in spider diversity along the remnant-vineyard transect, compared to other transects. Spider assemblages within vineyards was significantly different compared to remnant patches and old-fields, whereas other land-uses showed greater similarity. Plant species richness within the transformed biotope core increased overall spider diversity, benefiting plant-dwelling assemblages, but negatively influencing ground-dwelling assemblages. Herbaceous plant cover was driving assemblages within vineyards, whereas Restionaceae plant cover drove assemblages within old-fields. Furthermore, amount of natural vegetation in the landscape influenced spider assemblages within transformed biotopes. Our results show that old-fields have great potential to increase structural and functional connectivity within agricultural mosaics, and their rehabilitation is recommended. Furthermore, increasing plant diversity throughout the transformed landscape can soften the landscape and benefit spider diversity.
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Acknowledgements
This project was funded by Mondi Group. Fauna specimens were collected with permit no. AAA007-00144-0056 provided by Cape Nature. Spider species were identified by Prof Ansie Dippenaar-Schoeman. Centre for Geographical Analysis provided access to Stellenbosch University 5 m resolution digital elevation model. Lastly, access to sampling locations granted by multiple landowners and wine farms.
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This work was funded by Mondi Group.
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KJT: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, writing—original draft, writing—review & editing, visualization. RG: conceptualization, methodology, validation, formal analysis, resources, writing—review & editing. JSP: conceptualization, methodology, validation, formal analysis, writing—review & editing. MJS: conceptualization, methodology, validation, writing—review & editing, funding acquisition.
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See Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9 and Tables 5, 6, 7.
Bar plot of squared number of plant individuals per growth form grouped within different land use types
Rarefaction curves per sampling transect
Correlation matrix based on spearman rank coefficients of explanatory variables
Significant results obtained through generalized linear mixed effect models. Characters above box plots indicate significant differences. a Plant-dwelling exponent of the Shannon index and land use type, b Plant-dwelling exponent of the Shannon index and transect location, c Overall exponent of the Shannon index and plant richness, and d Plant-dwelling exponent of the Shannon index and plant richness
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Theron, K.J., Gaigher, R., Pryke, J.S. et al. Abandoned fields and high plant diversity support high spider diversity within an agricultural mosaic in a biodiversity hotspot. Biodivers Conserv 29, 3757–3782 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-020-02048-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-020-02048-9