Scale-dependent diversity patterns in spider communities along climate and fragmentation gradients

Scale-dependent diversity patterns in spider communities along climate and fragmentation gradients | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Scale-dependent diversity patterns in spider communities along climate and fragmentation gradients Lital Ozeri, Yaron Ziv, Ofer Ovadia, Yoni Gavish This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5633900/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 11 Nov, 2025 Read the published version in Landscape Ecology → Version 1 posted 8 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Context: Understanding the mechanisms driving biodiversity changes along environmental gradients and across scales is a key challenge in community ecology. Objectives: We investigated how spider species diversity—alpha, beta, and gamma—varies with annual precipitation, ranging from 450 mm in the north to 250 mm in the south, across 34 habitat patches in the Southern Judea Lowlands of Israel. Methods: We employed the Measurements of Biodiversity (MoB) framework to assess scale-dependent changes in biodiversity patterns, focusing on how species abundance distribution, individual density, and spatial aggregation contribute to this spatial variation. Results: Spider abundance peaked at moderate precipitation levels. A patch-scale analysis revealed a positive association between the rarefied α-scale species richness and annual precipitation. Landscape analysis indicated that spatial aggregation and species evenness decreased with annual precipitation. These opposing effects on biodiversity (i.e., species richness being negatively correlated with spatial aggregation and positively correlated with species evenness) intensified with spatial scale to the extent that no differences in the rarefied species richness were observed at the γ scale. Along the fragmentation gradient, abundance and richness decreased with patch connectivity at the α and γ-scales, though these patterns turned non-significant after controlling for individual density. Conclusions: Our results show that community organization is affected by spatial aggregation and species abundance distribution, which change along climate and fragmentation gradients. Our findings can enhance our understanding of the processes shaping spider communities in fragmented agroecosystems. Future studies should explore functional traits that change along gradients, including body size and hunting strategies. biodiversity community connectivity precipitation scale spiders Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files Appendices.updated.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 11 Nov, 2025 Read the published version in Landscape Ecology → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 10 Jul, 2025 Reviews received at journal 31 May, 2025 Reviews received at journal 14 May, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 06 May, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 30 Apr, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 29 Apr, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 02 Apr, 2025 First submitted to journal 30 Mar, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5633900","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":449986104,"identity":"17fce817-22c4-4955-9710-55ef2c8a2a08","order_by":0,"name":"Lital Ozeri","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA2klEQVRIie2PsQrCQAyGDwLXJfXWDKKvoBSq4MtcF6fr3kHqVjfnPoaTs3Lo5AN0FAoOToWCOInXgoOLVzfB+4Y/GfKRhDGH4wfpgYlz0wHsTFLfqnAwjmwV3hRCu8JeCsNRm3bFE/tKJulgssL6WiymyDx92FgOA5InHvS1v52pozkM5/PC9gtFGUY5+NtAcaMQhjYF7lFGyxzwEqhHN4WbLSNJgFDGWTclnMqTHOfAQ4jXhNz2ixD7sqiSdEhCl7W6pQPh6eNH5W0jtdl1vAGqb6YdDofjf3gCzOg3Yr3TW4cAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Ben-Gurion University of the Negev","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Lital","middleName":"","lastName":"Ozeri","suffix":""},{"id":449986105,"identity":"8b07ce7a-5424-493c-ad6a-b137797a0505","order_by":1,"name":"Yaron Ziv","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Ben-Gurion University of the Negev","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yaron","middleName":"","lastName":"Ziv","suffix":""},{"id":449986106,"identity":"eb265558-371b-40f9-a5bc-8fabed46af0b","order_by":2,"name":"Ofer Ovadia","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Ben-Gurion University of the Negev","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ofer","middleName":"","lastName":"Ovadia","suffix":""},{"id":449986107,"identity":"2103b897-03e2-4719-907f-557185b2d205","order_by":3,"name":"Yoni Gavish","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Data; 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A patch-scale analysis revealed a positive association between the rarefied α-scale species richness and annual precipitation. Landscape analysis indicated that spatial aggregation and species evenness decreased with annual precipitation. These opposing effects on biodiversity (i.e., species richness being negatively correlated with spatial aggregation and positively correlated with species evenness) intensified with spatial scale to the extent that no differences in the rarefied species richness were observed at the γ scale. Along the fragmentation gradient, abundance and richness decreased with patch connectivity at the α and γ-scales, though these patterns turned non-significant after controlling for individual density.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eConclusions:\u003c/strong\u003e Our results show that community organization is affected by spatial aggregation and species abundance distribution, which change along climate and fragmentation gradients. Our findings can enhance our understanding of the processes shaping spider communities in fragmented agroecosystems. Future studies should explore functional traits that change along gradients, including body size and hunting strategies.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Scale-dependent diversity patterns in spider communities along climate and fragmentation gradients","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-05-05 08:27:50","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5633900/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2025-07-10T22:34:04+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-05-31T08:07:42+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-05-14T10:11:45+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"69315232444655248232102301731468706388","date":"2025-05-06T05:27:39+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"211996234565410081602523960600548946448","date":"2025-04-30T04:33:39+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2025-04-29T17:38:05+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2025-04-02T09:48:22+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Landscape Ecology","date":"2025-03-30T18:19:13+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"landscape-ecology","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"land","sideBox":"Learn more about [Landscape Ecology](https://www.springer.com/journal/10980)","snPcode":"10980","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/10980/3","title":"Landscape Ecology","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"e5963dc6-ef81-44ef-ad77-7d4ca089b28d","owner":[],"postedDate":"May 5th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-11-17T16:05:59+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-5633900","link":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-025-02214-w","journal":{"identity":"landscape-ecology","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Landscape Ecology"},"publishedOn":"2025-11-11 15:56:54","publishedOnDateReadable":"November 11th, 2025"},"versionCreatedAt":"2025-05-05 08:27:50","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1007/s10980-025-02214-w","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-025-02214-w","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-5633900","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-5633900","identity":"rs-5633900","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}