Neighboring forest habitat in blueberry systems reduces patterns of dominance and generates higher seasonal stability of spider communities

 

Neighboring forest habitat in blueberry systems reduces patterns of dominance and generates higher seasonal stability of spider communities

Abstract

Understanding the dynamics of spider communities within agricultural landscapes is crucial for biodiversity-based pest management. Although often considered habitat generalists, spider communities are partially shaped by environmental filtering and habitat conditions. However, many studies focus only on in-field communities, limiting insights into species sorting across the crop-noncrop interface. In this study, we explore the temporal dynamics of ground-dwelling spider communities collected from pitfall traps in a perennial agroecosystem, blueberry farms. We compared spider diversity and composition across three habitat types: adjacent forest, field edge, and field interior. Our results show that forest patches supported higher richness, greater evenness, and more temporally stable communities compared to commercial blueberry habitats. In contrast, both the field interior and edge were compositionally similar, with a high temporal rate of community change of a few disturbance-tolerant genera. Using Hill numbers, PCoA, and indicator species analysis, we found patterns consistent with strong environmental filtering in disturbed habitats and community persistence in more structurally stable forest patches. These findings underscore the ecological value of adjacent noncrop habitats and support the need to include species and compositional estimates from the habitat matrix around agroecosystems.

Rezende, S. M., Pennisi, S. V., & Schmidt, J. M. (2025). Neighboring forest habitat in blueberry systems reduces patterns of dominance and generates higher seasonal stability of spider communities. Global Ecology and Conservation, e04019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2025.e04019