Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2440/104883
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Type: Journal article
Title: Where have all the spiders gone? The decline of a poorly known invertebrate fauna in the agricultural and arid zones of southern Australia
Author: Rix, M.
Huey, J.
Main, B.
Waldock, J.
Harrison, S.
Comer, S.
Austin, A.
Harvey, M.
Citation: Austral Entomology, 2017; 56(1):14-22
Publisher: Wiley
Issue Date: 2017
ISSN: 2052-174X
2052-1758
Statement of
Responsibility: 
Michael G Rix, Joel A Huey, Barbara Y Main, Julianne M Waldock, Sophie E Harrison, Sarah Comer, Andrew D Austin and Mark S Harvey
Abstract: Earth is currently experiencing the sixth mass extinction of complex multi-cellular life, the first at the hands of a single species. The documented extinctions of iconic (mostly vertebrate and plant) taxa dominate the discourse, while poorly known invertebrate species are disappearing ‘silently’, sometimes without having ever been described. Here, we highlight the decline of elements of the trapdoor spider (Mygalomorphae: Idiopidae) fauna of southern Australia – a taxonomically poorly documented yet diverse assemblage of long-lived fossorial predators. We show that a number of trapdoor spider species may be threatened after a century of intensive land clearing and stocking, and that remaining populations in some areas may be experiencing serious contemporary population declines. So, how dowe conserve this fauna?We suggest that baseline systematic studies are crucial, and that followup surveys, including integrative citizen science solutions, should be used to assess where remnant populations still exist, and whether they can persist into the future. Detailed population genetic research on a handful of carefully chosen taxa could be broadly informative, and ongoing natural history studies remain invaluable. Although solutions may be limited in the face of ongoing habitat degradation and other threats, urgently quantifying declines has implications not just for spiders but for mitigating against the mass extinction of poorly known invertebrate taxa across the globe.
Keywords: Aganippini, Arachnida, Araneae, biodiversity hotspot, south-western Australia
Rights: © 2016 Australian Entomological Society
DOI: 10.1111/aen.12258
Grant ID: RF21506
http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LP120200092
Published version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/aen.12258
Appears in Collections:Aurora harvest 8
Earth and Environmental Sciences publications

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