Humans negatively impact spider numbers, study finds

Research scientists have discovered that spiders are negatively impacted by changes to their landscape caused by humans.

As part of the research study published by the Biological Conservation journal, scientists from King Juan Carlos University (URJC) consider whether spiders were more tolerant of human impact than other animals, given their scarcity on endangered lists.

Until now no more than 20 per cent of studies into arachnids have indicated any negative impact on spiders caused by humans, but this new research, which also used collaborative evidence from a total of 173 scientific papers published since 1980, found this to be untrue.

"The abundance and number of spider species is negatively affected by the impact of many human land uses, such as habitat fragmentation, fire and pesticides," Samuel Prieto-Benitez and Marcos Mendez, researchers at the URJC Biodiversity and Conservation Department, told Plataforma SINC.

It found that a reduction of mechanical alternations to land and the use of insecticides would aid spider conservation, something essential for functioning natural systems.