Spider Trait Assembly Patterns and Resilience under Fire-Induced Vegetation Change in South Brazilian Grasslands

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 8; no. 3; p. e60207
• Main Authors: Podgaiski, Luciana R., Joner, Fernando, Lavorel, Sandra, Moretti, Marco, Ibanez, Sebastien, Mendonça, Milton de S., Pillar, Valério D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 28.03.2013; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Animal behavior; Animals; Araneae; Araneidae; Assembly; Biodiversity; Biodiversity and Ecology; Biology; Brazil; Cascades; Communities; Community ecology; Divergence; Ecosystem; Ecosystems; Environmental changes; Environmental Sciences; Eryngium; Exploitation; Feeding; Feeding behavior; Fires; Flowers & plants; Foliage; Foraging habitats; Grasslands; Habitats; Heterogeneity; Leaves; Microclimate; Microclimates; Microhabitats; Plant biomass; Plant communities; Plant diversity; Plant populations; Plant species; Plants; Predators; Resilience; Resource exploitation; Rosette; Shelters; Soil surfaces; Spiders; Spiders - physiology; Taxonomy; Trophic levels; Vegetation; Webs; Brazil; Rio Grande do Sul Brazil; Switzerland

Disturbances induce changes on habitat proprieties that may filter organism's functional traits thereby shaping the structure and interactions of many trophic levels. We tested if communities of predators with foraging traits dependent on habitat structure respond to environmental change throug...