Untangling the web: How spider traits link with management practices in agroecosystems

This dataset accompanies the manuscript \"Untangling the Web: How Spider Traits Link with Management Practices in Agroecosystems\". It includes the raw input matrices used to explore the functional composition of spider communities across agroecological and conventional cereal fields in the Swiss lowlands.
The dataset consists of four tables:(1) L_spiders: Relative abundances of 84 spider species across 22 field sites, derived from standardized multi-method sampling (pitfall traps, sweep netting, vacuum suctioning).(2) Q_traits: Functional traits of the observed spider species, including hunting guild, dispersal ability, vegetation stratum, preferred habitat, and body size.(3) R_filters: Site-level environmental and management variables such as pesticide input (TFI), nitrogen application, and landscape metrics.(4) R_veg: Local vegetation characteristics based on percentage cover of plant species per site. From this, community-weighted means (CWMs) for plant height, specific leaf area, and..., Spiders were sampled in 22 cereal fields (wheat, barley, oilseed rape) in the Swiss lowlands as part of the PestiRed project. Each field pair consisted of one conventionally and one agroecologically managed site, matched by crop type. Sampling took place during the 2023 growing season using three complementary methods—pitfall trapping, sweep netting, and vacuum suctioning—to cover different vegetation strata. Only adult spiders were retained and identified to species level. A total of 55 species occurring in at least two sites were included in the analysis.
For the analysis, the spider species abundances across sites have been Hellinger-transformed (L matrix). The Q matrix includes five functional traits: hunting guild, dispersal ability, vegetation stratum, habitat type, and body size. Trait data were compiled from expert sources and online databases, then clustered to reduce dimensionality.
The Renv matrix consists of seven z-transformed environmental variables reflecting field-level ..., # Dryad dataset

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.59zw3r2m4](10.5061/dryad.59zw3r2m4)

## Description of the data and file structure

This dataset was collected as part of a trait-based ecological study examining how spider communities respond to agricultural diversification in the Swiss lowlands. The study involved a paired field design with 22 cereal fields (wheat, barley, oilseed rape), each managed under either conventional or agroecological practices. Agroecological fields avoided synthetic pesticides and incorporated diversification strategies such as wildflower strips and mechanical weeding.

Spiders were sampled using three complementary methods—pitfall trapping, sweep netting, and vacuum suctioning—across multiple vegetation strata. Local vegetation was recorded by estimating plant cover within quadrats, and management/environmental data were collected through field records and spatial analysis. Functional traits of spiders and plants were compiled to explore how environmental filte...,