NEW DATA ON THE SPIDER (ARANEAE) SPECIES COMPOSITION AND HABITAT DISTRIBUTION OF THE NATIONAL NATURE PARK «DZHARYLHATSKYI»

Abstract

Fauna inventory and investigation of the species spatial distribution is a mandatory step in developing effective management of protected areas. In July and August 2019, we studied ground-dwelling spiders of the National Park «Dzharylhatskyi» located in the south of the Kherson Region. As a result, the inventory lists of the park's fauna were supplemented by 27 spider species. One species, Attulus ammophilus (Thorell, 1875), is recorded from the Kherson Region for the first time. Currently, 47 spider species in 19 families are known from the park’s territory.  The family Lycosidae is the most species-rich (19% of the fauna). We also studied spider habitat distribution in five main biotopes of the Park; their classification is adopted from the Catalogue of habitats of Ukraine: Д1.8 – Anthropogenic broad-leaved forest, (further «trees»); П1.5 – Coastal dune shrubs (shrubs); T6.3.1 – Wet eugalophyte grasslands on excessively saline substrata (salt marshe); T6.1 – Brackish steppes (steppу); T6.3.2 – Wet euhalophyte grasslands on moderately saline substrata (swamps). Spider species composition in various habitats ranged as follows: swamps – 18 species, salt marshes – 14 species, steppe – 5 species, threes – 4 species, and shrubs – 2 species. Spider individual abundance was also higher in the salt marshes and swamps. In the Dzharylhach island, their activity density was 12.5-12.7 ind./100 trap-days, while in the steppe and shrubs it equalled 5.4 and 3.6 ind./100 trap-days, respectively.  In the mainland part of the Park, the swamp was distinguished by an extremely high spider abundance – 170 ind./100 trap-days. Spider alpha-diversity in the Dzharylhatskyi Park was the highest in the swamps and the lowest in the shrubs. The low spider diversity in the shrubs and man-planted forests is probably associated with a biotope atypical of the study area. The high beta diversity (Whittaker index = 3.91) indicates a significant difference between spider assemblages in the five studied habitats. Moreover, spider spatial distribution and dominance structure in the Dzharylhatskyi Park differ from those in the Black Sea Biosphere Reserve. This indicates local peculiarities of the ground-dwelling arthropod assemblages and feasibility of the park protecting to support regional biodiversity.