How are spiders impacted when a bushfire hits?

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-04-26 09:01

Australia; VIC

Photo by Andrew Rate on Unsplash

Bushfires are likely bad news for weaving spiders but better news for wolf spiders, according to Australian researchers who combined studies on how fire impacts different spiders. The researchers say the impacts vary between types of spiders, with some appearing to thrive after fire. The ground-dwelling wolf spider, for example, often increases in numbers from about two years after a fire, while web-weaving spiders such as orb weavers often disappear altogether from fire-hit regions, they say. The researchers say the studies they looked at found it easier to monitor ground-dwelling spiders, meaning their data may not be complete, but add that while it is hard to make generalisations because different spiders respond so differently, the patterns they found could help predict how increasing fires under climate change will impact our eight-legged friends.

Media release

From: The Royal Society

Assessing the impact of fire on spiders through a global comparative analysis

Climate change and human activities are impacting fire regimes. Understanding how animals respond to fire is essential for predicting the consequences of this. We combine data from studies investigating the impact of fire on spiders, one of the most diverse and widespread group of animals. We find evidence that short fire intervals may be a threat to some spiders, that the effect of fire differs between vegetation types, and that fire has a negative impact on some web building spiders. This information may help to make fire management decisions and identify species most at risk from changing fire regimes.

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Research The Royal Society, Web page

Journal/
conference: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: The University of Melbourne, Museums Victoria, Monash University

Funder: This work was financially supported by the Ian Potter Foundation to J.M. and the Australian Research Council, Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (grant no. 200100500) to I.M.

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