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A Survey of Spiders Found in Fallen Pine Cones in Eastern Washington State

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A Survey of Spiders Found in Fallen Pine Cones in Eastern Washington State Western North American Naturalist Volume 74 Number 4 Article 5 3-30-2015 A survey of spiders found in fallen pine cones in eastern Washington State Laurel J. Ramseyer Seattle, WA, [email protected] Rodney L. Crawford University of Washington, Seattle, WA, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/wnan Part of the Anatomy Commons, Botany Commons, Physiology Commons, and the Zoology Commons Recommended Citation Ramseyer, Laurel J. and Crawford, Rodney L. (2015) "A survey of spiders found in fallen pine cones in eastern Washington State," Western North American Naturalist: Vol. 74 : No. 4 , Article 5. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/wnan/vol74/iss4/5 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Western North American Naturalist Publications at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Western North American Naturalist by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Western North American Naturalist 74(4), © 2014, pp. 405–415 A SURVEY OF SPIDERS FOUND IN FALLEN PINE CONES IN EASTERN WASHINGTON STATE Laurel J. Ramseyer1 and Rodney L. Crawford2 ABSTRACT.—Fallen pine cones are a microhabitat for spiders in Washington State. Eighty-nine species of spiders from 24 families and 70 genera were identified from 1060 specimens collected from over 4567 cones of Pinus ponderosa and Pinus monticola between 2008 and 2013. Euryopis formosa Banks 1908 (Theridiidae) and Pholcophora americana Banks 1896 (Pholcidae) were the most abundant species collected (27% and 9.3% of identified specimens, respectively) and occurred most frequently (49% and 21% of sampling sites, respectively). Fallen cones may be an important micro- habitat for these species in Washington. Fallen cones produced 18 spider species rare in Washington, including Theridion rabuni Chamberlin and Ivie 1944 (Theridiidae), which has not been found in any other microhabitat in the state. Sampling fallen cones added a mean of 3 species (SD 2, range 0–9) to site lists created by conventional collecting methods like sweeps, litter sifting, and foliage beats. Agelenid spiders incorporated entire cones into their webs, while other species placed egg sacs or retreats on cone surfaces or used the inner spaces of cones to build prey capture webs or to molt. RESUMEN.—Encontramos que las piñas caídas son un microhábitat para las arañas en el estado de Washington. Se identificaron 89 especies de arañas de 24 familias y 70 géneros en 1,060 muestras obtenidas de más de 4,567 piñas de Pinus ponderosa y Pinus monticola entre los años 2008 y 2013. Las especies colectadas más abundantes fueron Euryopis formosa Banks 1908 (Theridiidae) y Pholcophora americana Banks 1896 (Pholcidae), (27% y 9.3% de las muestras identi- ficadas, respectivamente) y encontradas con mayor frecuencia (49% y 21% de los sitios de muestreo, respectivamente); las piñas caídas podrían representar un microhábitat importante para estas especies en Washington. Las piñas caídas mostraron 18 especies de arañas poco comunes en Washington, incluyendo Theridion rabuni Chamberlin e Ivie 1944 (Theridiidae), que no se ha encontrado en ningún otro microhábitat en el estado. La toma de muestras de piñas caídas añadió un promedio de 3 (DE 2, entre 0 y 9) de especies a las listas de sitios creadas por los métodos convencionales de recolección tales como redadas, tamizado de arena y golpeo de follaje. Las arañas Agelenid incorporaron piñas enteras en sus telarañas, mientras que otras especies colocaron sacos de huevos o crearon lugares de retiro en las superficies o utilizaron los espacios internos de las piñas para construir redes para capturar presas o para mudar de piel. Different collection methods yield different appeared to focus its activities on cones, and sets of spider species (Coddington et al. 1996). the ways spiders use cones. Making a local species list as complete as possible therefore requires sampling methods METHODS complementary enough to access every spider microhabitat. A limitation faced by spider We collected spiders from the fallen seed collectors is the ability to recognize “new” cones of P. ponderosa and P. monticola in spider microhabitats and develop methods to Washington State from May 2008 through sample them. We discovered that the fallen October 2013. We sampled cones at 70 sites seed cones of ponderosa pine (Pinus pon- located east of the crest of the Cascade Range derosa Laws.) and western white pine (Pinus (“eastern Washington”; Fig. 1), and resampled monticola Douglas) are a spider microhabitat 2 sites approximately 10 months after the ini- in Washington State, and we developed a col- tial sampling date, making 72 sampling events lecting technique to sample the cones. This in all. Numbers of sites sampled in the years paper describes the results of a 6-year survey 2008 through 2013 were 2, 4, 5, 42, 1, and of the spider fauna of fallen cones in Wash- 18, respectively. ington. Our goals were to determine which Study Area spider species use fallen cones, whether sam- pling cones was complementary or redundant Cones of P. ponderosa and P. monticola to other sampling methods, whether any species were sampled at 64 and 7 sites, respectively. 16401 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115. 2Corresponding author. Burke Museum, University of Washington, Box 353010, Seattle, WA 98195-3010. E-mail: [email protected] 405 406 WESTERN NORTH AMERICAN NATURALIST [Volume 74 Fig. 1. Map of Washington State showing sites where spiders were collected from the fallen cones of Pinus ponderosa (crosses, 64 sites), P. monticola (circles, 7 sites), or both P. ponderosa and P. monticola (square, 1 site). Shaded area indi- cates approximate distribution of P. ponderosa in eastern Washington (Kotok 1973). Pinus ponderosa co-occurred with P. monticola is a major seral tree in the midelevation Abies at one site. Most cone sampling sites fell grandis (Douglas ex D. Don) Lindl. and Ts u g a within the “Pinus ponderosa Zone” described heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg. zones of eastern by Franklin and Dyrness (1973). The trees at Washington. The species is often associated most sites appeared to be naturally occurring, with P. p o n d e r o s a and is a minor component except for the ponderosa pines that were of forests throughout the Pacific Northwest planted as shade trees at 2 sites in a largely (Franklin and Dyrness 1973). treeless section of the Columbia Plateau in Sampling central Washington. Site elevations varied from 120 m to 1460 m. Cones were beaten one at a time into a In eastern Washington, a zone of relatively sweep net (38 cm diameter Heavy Duty Sweep pure P. ponderosa forest typically occurs as Net bag from BioQuip®, made of sailcloth, one moves upward from treeless steppe into not mesh). Each cone was held apex-downward forested mountains (Daubenmire and Dauben - as close to its base as possible and given at mire 1968, Franklin and Dyrness 1973). Most least 5 solid whacks against the inner wall of often, the lowest pines are in canyons, whereas the net, which was held flush against the col- occurrence on ridges begins significantly lector’s leg to provide a solid striking surface. higher. Farther into the mountains, this zone The cone was rotated once or twice during gives way to a Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga men- this procedure. In a preliminary test of the ziesii [Mirb.] Franco) zone, but pine stands efficiency of this method, we expelled spiders occur variably in that zone as well. Many P. from each of 76 P. ponderosa cones as de - ponderosa stands have a grass-dominated scribed above, then removed the cone scales understory, with Festuca idahoensis Elmer or with pliers to find any remaining spiders (data Agropyron spicatum Pursh dominant in undis- not shown). In this test, our beating method turbed stands and species of Poa, invasive Bro- produced 95% of the total number of spiders mus, and others dominant after grazing distur- (84) collected by beating and scale removal bance. Shrub understory associations feature combined. Symphoricarpos albus (L.) S.F. Blake, Purshia We sampled a minimum of 50 cones per tridentata (Pursh) DC or Ceanothus velutinus site, cone availability permitting. The number Douglas ex Hook. (Daubenmire and Dauben- of cones sampled per site was not recorded for mire 1968). Pinus monticola is not a dominant the first 8 sites. Cones were randomly selected climax species anywhere in the region, but it from the forest floor without regard to their 2014] PINE CONES AS SPIDER MICROHABITAT 407 state of decay, provided they still retained fallen cone and non-cone microhabitats, we their scales. Only cones with at least half of their calculated the percentage of specimens identi- scales open were sampled. Sampled cones were fied to species from each family for spiders found in various dispositions, including lying collected from fallen cones at all sites (n = 70) on bare soil, lying on needle litter, or partially and for spiders in the Burke Collection col- to fully embedded in litter. We sampled cones lected during the same period from ground- between March and November, with most level non-cone microhabitats at cone sites sampling events occurring in June (14), July (n = 39). The latter group included spiders (17), and October (28). Cone sampling times active on the ground, under or between rocks, varied between midmorning and dusk. in or under objects on the ground, in ground To understand how spiders use fallen cones, surface webs, sifted from litter, or sifted from many cones sampled in 2011 and 2013 were moss on rocks. We estimated spider species visually examined for the presence of silk richness for the fallen cone microhabitat by structures or spiders before being beaten into calculating the Chao 1 estimator using Esti- the sweep net.
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