Latest documents http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/index/index/ Mon, 18 Feb 2013 11:42:10 +0100 Mon, 18 Feb 2013 11:42:10 +0100 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/28945 The 26th European Congress of Arachnology (4-8 September 2011) was held for the first time in Israel, and for the first time outside the European continent. The meeting was hosted by the Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, at the Sede Boqer Campus of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Yael Lubin; Efrat Gavish-Regev article http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/28945 Mon, 18 Feb 2013 11:42:10 +0100 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/26620 The protected Mediterranean woodland habitats in Israel are undergoing tree encroachment, resulting in loss of open patches with herbaceous vegetation. We suggested that this process results in a ground spider community dominated by shade-loving species. At three Mediterranean woodland sites located along a rainfall gradient, we examined the effects on the ground-spider community of experimental removal of the woody vegetation in 1000 m2 plots by cutting and overall plant biomass reduction by grazing and browsing by livestock. Pitfall traps were placed in replicated plots of four treatments (control, cutting, grazing/browsing, and cutting together with grazing/browsing) and in two different habitat patch types (open, woody). ANOVA and multivariate analyses were performed on family abundance by treatment and habitat patch type. Tree-cutting reduced the number of families in plots at two of the three sites. Grazing did not have a significant effect on the number of families or on the ground spider community composition. The spider community of cut-woody patches was more similar to that of open patches than to that of uncut woody patches. Most spider families separated along an axis of open versus woody patches, with woody habitat families predominating at all sites. Families typical of open habitats were positively associated with cut-woody patches as well. The overall effect on ground spider diversity of such manipulations may depend on the scale of habitat changes. Yael Lubin; Noa Angel; Nirit Assaf article http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/26620 Tue, 02 Oct 2012 17:30:33 +0200