The Ecological Importance of Spiders – Spider Basics: Beyond the Eight Legs, Episode 2

In Episode 2 of Spider Basics: Beyond the Eight Legs, I look at the ecological significance and impact of spiders, including how much they eat, what eats them, how they develop and maintain ecosystems, and how they provide for other life.

Want to learn how to identify LOTS of spiders? Check out Sarah Rose's "Spiders of North America", the first book I reach for when identifying spiders (I earn a small commission if you purchase through these links).

0:00 Introduction
1:41 They Eat Stuff
11:15 Stuff Eats Them
13:28 They Repopulate Decimated Habitats
19:43 They Keep Forests Healthy
22:37 They Provide Habitat for Other Creatures
25:01 Conclusion

[travismcenery]

References

Aldrich, E. C. (1945). Nesting of the Allen hummingbird. The Condor, 47(4), 137-148.

BASCOULÈS, S., & SMITH, P. (2021). Mutualism between frogs (Chiasmocleis albopunctata, Microhylidae) and spiders (Eupalaestrus campestratus, Theraphosidae): a new example from Paraguay.

Bristowe, W. S. (1931, December). 67. A Preliminary Note on the Spiders of Krakatau. In Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London (Vol. 101, No. 4, pp. 1387-1400). Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Collier, B. L. Intraguild impact of the invasive Noble false widow spider Steatoda nobilis (Thorell, 1875) in Ireland.

Coticchio, L. A., Vetter, R., & Cassill, D. L. (2023). Predation by the introduced brown widow spider (Araneae: Theridiidae) may explain local extinctions of native black widows in urban habitats. Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 116(3), 174-183.

Dugon, M. M., Dunbar, J. P., Afoullouss, S., Schulte, J., McEvoy, A., Hogan, R., ... & Sulpice, R. (2017). Occurrence, reproductive rate and identification of the non-native noble false widow spider Steatoda nobilis (Thorell, 1875) in Ireland. In Biology and Environment: Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy (Vol. 117, No. 2, pp. 77-89). Royal Irish Academy.


Foelix, R. (2011). Biology of spiders. Oxford University Press, USA.

Gajdos, P., & KRISTIN, A. (1997, March). Spiders (Araneae) as bird food. In Proceedings of the 16th European Colloquium of Arachnology (pp. 91-105).

Glick, P. A. (1939). The distribution of insects, spiders, and mites in the air.

Lang, A., Filser, J., & Henschel, J. R. (1999). Predation by ground beetles and wolf spiders on herbivorous insects in a maize crop. Agriculture, ecosystems & environment, 72(2), 189-199.

Low, P., Angus, W., Wagner, A., Wilkin, D., Shiels, M., Dockerill, R., & Hochuli, D. (2013). Use of spider silk for nest building by the Regent Honeyeater Anthochaera phrygia and the Helmeted Honeyeater Lichenostomus melanops cassidix. Australian zoologist, 36(3), 349-354.

Luría-Manzano, R., & Ramírez-Bautista, A. (2017). Diet comparison between rainforest and cave populations of Craugastor alfredi (Anura: Craugastoridae): does diet vary in contrasting habitats?. Journal of Natural History, 51(39-40), 2345-2354.

Melguizo‐Ruiz, N., Jiménez‐Navarro, G., De Mas, E., Pato, J., Scheu, S., Austin, A. T., ... & Moya‐Laraño, J. (2020). Field exclusion of large soil predators impacts lower trophic levels and decreases leaf‐litter decomposition in dry forests. Journal of Animal Ecology, 89(2), 334-346.


Naef‐Daenzer, L., Naef‐Daenzer, B., & Nager, R. G. (2000). Prey selection and foraging performance of breeding Great Tits Parus major in relation to food availability. Journal of Avian Biology, 31(2), 206-214.

Nelsen, D. R., Corbit, A. G., Chuang, A., Deitsch, J. F., Sitvarin, M. I., & Coyle, D. R. (2023). Veni, vidi, vici? Future spread and ecological impacts of a rapidly expanding invasive predator population. Ecology and Evolution, 13(11), e10728.

Nyffeler, M., & Benz, G. (1987). Spiders in natural pest control: a review 1. Journal of Applied Entomology, 103(1‐5), 321-339.



Pfäffle, M., Littwin, N., Muders, S. V., & Petney, T. N. (2013). The ecology of tick-borne diseases. International journal for parasitology, 43(12-13), 1059-1077.

Rajeswaran, J., Duraimurugan, P., & Shanmugam, P. S. (2005). Role of spiders in agriculture and horticulture ecosystem. Journal of Food Agriculture and Environment, 3(3/4), 147.

Rayner, S., Vitkauskaite, A., Healy, K., Lyons, K., McSharry, L., Leonard, D., ... & Dugon, M. M. (2022). Worldwide Web: High Venom Potency and Ability to Optimize Venom Usage Make the Globally Invasive Noble False Widow Spider Steatoda nobilis (Thorell, 1875)(Theridiidae) Highly Competitive against Native European Spiders Sharing the Same Habitats. Toxins, 14(9), 587.

Roberts-McEwen, T. A., Deutsch, E. K., Mowery, M. A., & Grinsted, L. (2022). Group-Living Spider Cyrtophora citricola as a Potential Novel Biological Control Agent of the Tomato Pest Tuta absoluta. Insects, 14(1), 34.

Sarwar, M. (2015). Insect vectors involving in mechanical transmission of human pathogens for serious diseases. International Journal of Bioinformatics and Biomedical Engineering, 1(3), 300-306.

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[Sea-Weathered-Seijin]

This is the type of content that keeps the youtube 'ecosystem' healthy. You love to see it.

[DMcC]

I like to think of humans and spiders having an almost symbiotic relationship at this point. As you recount the spiders that domesticate frogs, it occurs to me that maybe that's what's going on in my house. The spiders are keeping me. It all makes sense now.

[Bathroom_Spiders]

I've been trying to turn my garden into a little slice of habitat for a few years now. It's slow going because I dont want to displace any critters, but this year a pair of Trashline Orb Weavers have decided to make their home by my front steps. They set up on the aloe flowers and the female even caught a honey bee, I got a few good photos of her wraping it up. We even have native California salamanders living in the rocks on opposite corners the plot so it's probably safe to say there are more throughout.

[darkninjafirefox]

Spiders are some of our best friends at the barn. For as many annoying fly bites I've gotten, I see dozens in their webs and appreciate the spider's service

[Neville]

1:55 seeing a spider playing a video game made my day.

[fizzplease]

Yesss time to enjoy relaxing spider education material. (By the way, our house is a spider-friendly abode, my kid who is eight really likes them--huge difference to myself as a kid--and she also has repeatedly asked for the "Not Loxoceles" video because as you can imagine "doesn't even have a butt" is the best lyric of all time)

[squidikka]

One time I didn't even notice a full takeover of red ants in my bathroom behind my toilet because the 6 or so spiders that live there (that became like 10 thanks to the feast) caught every single one of them. Hundreds of ants in the web. I'd have woken up covered in red ants if not for them. Ever since then, I've kept all my spiders.

[fizzybmb]

As someone who keeps tarantulas and some true spiders, I adore our 8-legged friends and it makes me so sad that they are so misunderstood and hated. Thank you for giving them the attention they deserve.

[MyWildBackyard]

I love this. Especially the discussion on pesticide replacement-- something I've been fascinated by for a while now! That wolf spider ballooning footage is wild, man. Never knew they could do that. Great transitions between segments too. All around a grand slam in my opinion

[Birdsflight]

When those stupid spider killing waspy things killed my door wolfies last year, (I have a little covered corner right by the back door, perfect for spiders, all the way up) I definitely noticed a difference in all the critters making their way into my home.

Its incredible how their presence changes things just with letting the dog out.

On the bright side, a wolf spider showed up at the steps by the door, so they may repopulate soon. :) 🕷️ 🚪

[iamjustkiwi]

From one spider lover to another. I can't quite commit to a patreon right now, but you deserve all the support for the work you're doing spreading the good word of our arachnid fellows.

Now that spring has started to get in full swing I'm always astounded seeing the sheer number of spiders in all the swampy areas on our property so clearly they have a huge role in our local environment (especially those who spin webs to catch the damned blackflies!)

[KattoDoggo]

Yes! Spider content spider content spider content spider content! I'm so excited!

[tehdrumerer]

Travis. you’re the best spidertuber in spidertube history. ty for your service.

[lonk]

dude i yelled at 20:40 when the yellowstone wolf project was mentioned. i just wrote a paper on that for school! it's super interesting, really incredible how for so long we misunderstood the environment so terribly that we thought getting rid of wolves was actually good. i'd highly recommend reading about it to anyone who hasn't! also, great video! this channel is a goldmine, it's really helped me get over my fear of spiders and start to appreciate how cool and adorable they are. i gotta go read more about spider ecology more now. i knew about the frogs, but had no idea about any of the stuff about bird nests and forest health. ecology really is fascinating
edit: turns out spiders are actually super helpful in cranberry bogs. they help farmers use less pesticides. big win for spiders! i'm from new england, and we have tons of bogs around here, i might have to go see if i can go to any and find some spiders
ps. one thing i kinda wanted to include in the paper but decided against was that our attitudes towards wolves and spiders (and wolf spiders) are pretty similar. they're both vitally important to the ecosystem, but tons of people would rather just get rid of them instead of trying to figure out how to coexist. plus both are potentially dangerous, but not as much as they're made out to be. both get so much more hate than they deserve. i'm really glad spiders haven't been as politicized as wolves or had actual efforts at elimination, though.

[floodedmoat]

There’s been a lot of great entomology videos by independent creators recently. Spiders specifically have been getting some good press and that’s also joy inducing. Great video!

[SevenSixty]

Spiders are easily one of the most misunderstood creatures on this planet, and I hope one day their importance is recognized on the scale that bees are.

[blueyl]

Love the animations. Truly you are a man of many talents.

I will never understand why so many people are terrified of spiders, but hardly worry about ticks and mosquitos. Ticks can make you allergic to meat. I would be so mad if I had to give up bacon because of a stupid tick.

[RealBelisariusCawl]

I expect to find nothing in this video that I don’t already know, and yet I will still watch this entire thing, like it, and recommend it to everyone.

I will never NOT click on a video from my favourite spider-loving YouTuber.

🕷️❤️♾️

[wayneswonderarium]

Black widow silk played an instrumental role in sniper scopes in WWII - the silk is stronger than steel /and/ more thermally stable, making for more accurate crosshairs 🎉