Spiders (Araneae) are important predators and their function consists in reducing the number of herbivores in nature as they are one of the most abundant invertebrates in almost all terrestrial ecosystems. There are more than 40,000 spider species known worldwide, including 800 species in Poland. The species differ from each other in terms of their requirements and tolerance to environmental factors. Therefore, the species composition and the dominance structure of a given group of spiders reflects the conditions prevailing in the habitat. Changes in these conditions, and in particular changes in the vegetation structure and moisture content, significantly affect changes in the dominance structure of spider assemblages. Agricultural lands are colonised by spiders that favour open areas. Their species diversity, however, depends on the location and the type of crops, as well as the land-use methods.

Oak Spider (Aculepeira ceropegia)/ photo Izabela Hajdamowicz

The research on spider species diversity will be conducted in selected agricultural lands in cereal crops and permanent grasslands in the Lublin province. The study area covers the region of Polesie together with the valleys of the Bug and Wieprz Rivers. Epigeic (ground-dwelling) spiders will be captured with Barber's traps – a standard method used to catch ground-dwelling invertebrates. Epiphytic (dwelling on plants) spiders will be caught with a sweep net.

photo Andreas Hirler

Inventory and monitoring of spiders diversity are conducted by the University of Natural and Humanities in Siedlce.