Spiders (Araneae) associated with strip-clearcut and dense spruce-fir forests of Maine

Spiders of 15 families, 76 genera, and at least 125 species were collected by pitfall traps in a spruce-budworm infested forest of northern Maine. Species of Lycosidae were numerically dominant and accounted for 56.2 and 54.1% of the total trapped specimens in 1977 and 1978, respectively. For both study years, significantly more (P ≤ 0.05) individuals and species of spiders were captured in clearcut strips than in either uncut residual strips or dense stands. Peaks in seasonal activity of spiders generally coincided with the spruce budworm's early and late larval stages; spiders were also abundant and active during budworm oviposition and dispersal of 1st instars. Diversity of spider species was generally greater in dense stands and uncut residual strips than in clearcut strips. Individuals were distributed unevenly among species but more evenly in dense stands and uncut residual strips than in clearcut strips. Coefficients of community (CC) and percentage similarity (PS) values indicated more spider species than individuals were shared in common among forest conditions. Neither age of strip clearcut (1-6 years) nor litter depth had much influence on mean catches and mean numbers of species of spiders per trap per week.