Effects of mowing on body size patterns in spider assemblages of mesic meadows

Habitat disturbance affects not only the abundance, species richness and species composition of the local fauna, but also the body size of specific individuals and body size patterns in animal assemblages. Particularly large disturbances occur in agroecosystems, where many agricultural treatments are carried out. One of them, which is most commonly applied to grasslands and which significantly damages the habitat structure, is mowing. We examined the effect of mowing on mean, skewness, and kurtosis of the body size in epigeic spider assemblages. The research was conducted on mesic meadows in eastern Poland, in an agricultural landscape typical for this region, consisting of a mosaic of meadows, fields and forests. Spiders were collected using pitfall traps in two sampling periods: the first before mowing and the second when part of the meadows had been mown. Mowing had no significant effect on mean body size, skewness and kurtosis of the body size in epigeic spider assemblages. However,..., Spiders were collected using pitfall traps in two 14-day sampling periods., , # Effects of mowing on body size patterns in spider assemblages of mesic meadows

### Author information

Tomasz Stański - University of Siedlce, Faculty of Sciences, Siedlce, Poland

Marzena Stańska - University of Siedlce, Faculty of Sciences, Siedlce, Poland

Izabela Hajdamowicz - Flächenagentur Baden-Württemberg GmbH, Ostfildern, Germany

Łukasz Nicewicz - Institute of Biology, Biotechnology and Environmental Protection, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Silesia in Katowice , Poland

Andreas Hiller - Gartenstrasse 2, 73240 Wendlingen, Germany

### General Information

The file contains data of spiders sampled using pitfall traps on mesic meadows.

**Date of data collection:** 2013-2015.

**Geographic location of data collection:** eastern Poland, the Lublin Province

## Description of the data and file structure

Column “Species” – Latin name of spider species

Column “Body size” – maximum body length value (in mm) for each species regardless of sex, provided in the Spide...