Spiders sampled during student excursions at Bankfontein farm

As part of an undergraduate Entomology module, field excursions were
undertaken to a mixed livestock farm in central South Africa, during
March-April 2015, 2016 and 2018–2020. The aim was for groups to determine
and compare terrestrial arthropod biodiversity in three strata of three
contrasting biotopes, with particular emphasis on insects. To determine
the contributions such excursions make to documenting biodiversity of a
non-target taxon, the spider (Arachnida: Araneae) data generated by
students was compared with the local species richness (LSR) for the area.
The LSR for the farm Bankfontein included a total of 242 species,
representing 40 families. Over the five years, student groups sampled a
total of 158 spider species, representing 65.3 % of the LSR. The number of
species sampled per year ranged between 57 and 94 for undergraduate
students (1–3 groups), and was 119 species for the final year of the study
carried out by the author and two post-graduate students (2 groups), which
could be attributed to collector experience and modification of the
sorting process for beat sampling, particularly. This study emphasises the
importance of utilizing students as a valuable resource to generate
biodiversity data, particularly where financial and human resources may be
limited.