Spatial and temporal spider activity abundance data for five temperate alley-cropping agroforestry sites from 2022

This dataset is provided by the SIGNAL subproject “Macrofauna diversity and pest control in temperate agroforestry systems” and contains spider count data from pitfall traps of five cropland alley-cropping sites in Northern Germany. Each site comprising of an alley-cropping agroforestry system (AF) and an adjacent open cropland system (OC) serving as a reference land-use system without trees. At each agroforestry system, six subplots were established and arranged along linear transects orthogonal to the orientation of the tree row, spanning from the middle of the tree row to the center of the crop row. Each subplot in the agroforestry systems contained a transect with a sampling point in the middle of the 12 m wide tree row and at 1, 7, and 24 m (center of the crop row) distance from the tree row edge into the crop row. Open cropland systems had 6 subplots (sampling point) with a minimum distance of 25 m between each other and at least 30 m to the field margins. In total, 30 pitfall traps (24 agroforestry, 6 open cropland) were set up at each site. Pitfall traps consisted of a clear plastic container (95mm opening diameter, 639 ml volume) buried at ground level and covered by a mesh (mesh size: 13 mm). Traps were filled with a 50/50 mixture of propylene glycol and water. Traps were emptied monthly from March to July 2022, yielding five trapping periods. Adult spiders were identified to species level.

Research domain: Ecology of Agricultural Landscapes

Research question: How does spider spatial and temporal diversity, pest control potential, and community composition respond to temperate alley-cropping agroforestry systems as compared to open croplands.