Spiders could protect our crops, but research is hanging by a thread

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-06-20 03:00

New Zealand

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It’s been estimated that spiders consume up to 800 million tons of (mostly) bugs globally per year, but a new paper says there has been no research on the role spiders play in managing pests on horticultural farms here in Aotearoa. The little research that has been done here has only looked at how abundant spider numbers are in certain farm ecosystems. The team calls for more funding to study how spiders can be used for more eco-friendly pest control practices in NZ’s horticultural sector.