Abstract
The artesian springs that are located on the edge of the Great Artesian Basin in arid South Australia support diverse assemblages of spiders. Domestic or feral stock have affected the vegetation and substrate of artesian springs, which are important water sources. The effects of stock on the spider communities of artesian springs were investigated with a descriptive survey, comparing springs with differing grazing histories, and with a field experiment that simulated the impacts of cattle presence with trampling and mowing treatments. In the survey, the abundance of spiders was associated with the dominant vegetation cover and with the history of grazing pressure. In the experiment, the abundance of web-building and ambush-hunting spiders declined following mowing and/or trampling treatments. The use of foraging guilds is likely to be a useful approach in using spider communities as bioindicators of environmental change.
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Acknowledgements
The work described in this paper was conducted as part of an Honours thesis submitted to the School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University, by the senior author. We are grateful to Mr. Darren Niejalke and Mr David Hirst for their advice and assistance and to Olympic Dam Operations (WMC Resources) for providing financial support for this project. Mr. Darren Herpich kindly drafted Fig. 1.
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Kovac, KJ., Mackay, D.A. An experimental study of the impacts of cattle on spider communities of artesian springs in South Australia. J Insect Conserv 13, 57–65 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-007-9117-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-007-9117-2