The use of artificial habitats increases spider abundance and richness in a vineyard of Argentina

POMPOZZI, GABRIEL; COPPERI, SOFÍA; FERNÁNDEZ CAMPÓN, FLORENCIA; LAGOS SILNIK, SUSANA; GARCÍA, SOL; PERALTA, AGUSTINA; ALBRECHT, EDUARDO

BIOCONTROL (DORDRECHT)

SPRINGER

Año: 2020

1386-6141

Maintaining biodiversity in agriculturalsystems is essential, as it plays a key role in ecosystemservices provision. However, it is declining at anunprecedented rate. Several methods can contribute toincreasing species diversity in agroecosystems,including the use of artificial microhabitats. Studiesfocusing on biodiversity in vineyards have beencarried out recently, mainly in Europe and NorthAmerica, but are scarce in South America. In thisstudy, we investigate whether introduced environmentalvariability and habitat complexity, using corrugatedcardboard bands, enhances spider abundanceand diversity in vineyards. Spiders were collectedfrom grapevine plants, using two collecting methods(foliage beating and direct collection). Plants with andwithout cardboard bands (N = 30) were sampled inthree different phenological stages of the vineyard(veraison, maturity and postharvest). Overall, wecollected 904 spiders belonging to 35 species. Wefound that spider abundance and species richnesssignificantly increased with cardboard bands. Inaddition, we identified particular species that prefercardboard bands to build their shelters. Results suggestthat cost-effective habitat manipulation can increasespider abundance in vineyards, which implies higherbiodiversity conservation value and potential forimproving biological control.