Spatial relationships between spiders and their host vascular epiphytes within shade trees in a Mexican coffee plantation

Within tree canopies, vascular epiphytes create habitats for other taxa, and their heterogeneous spatial distribution could affect the distribution of organisms associated with them, such as spiders. This study was performed in shade trees of a rustic coffee plantation located within a Tropical Cloud Forest region of Mexico. We used a spatially explicit approach to examine (1) if the richness and abundance of epiphyte-dwelling spiders have a positive association with epiphyte abundance within trees and (2) if spiders (richness and abundance) show the same patterns of spatial distribution as the epiphytic habitat. We found that spiders were distributed on gradients of the same type as their host epiphytes. These gradients were: a decrease from the center toward the edges of the tree and a decrease from the base of the trunk toward the canopy. Spiders also had aggregation patches with similar dimensions to those exhibited by their host epiphytes. Those spiders' patches were fully explaine...在树木冠层中，维管附生植物（vascular epiphytes）为其他生物类群提供栖息生境，其异质空间分布格局会影响与之伴生的生物（如蜘蛛）的分布情况。本研究以墨西哥热带云雾林区域内一处粗放型咖啡种植园的遮荫树为研究对象，采用空间显式方法（spatially explicit approach）开展两项探究：(1) 栖息于树木附生植物中的蜘蛛类群丰富度与个体丰度，是否与树木内附生植物的丰度呈正相关关系；(2) 蜘蛛的类群丰富度与个体丰度，是否与附生生境呈现一致的空间分布格局。结果显示，蜘蛛的空间分布梯度与宿主附生植物的分布梯度类型一致：二者均呈现从树体中心向边缘逐渐降低、从树干基部向冠层逐渐减少的格局。蜘蛛的聚集斑块尺度也与宿主附生植物的聚集斑块尺度相近，此类蜘蛛的聚集斑块可完全由……