Impact of Hedychium coronarium J. König (Zingiberaceae) on the assembly of spiders in the Parque Estadual das Fontes do Ipiranga, São Paulo State, Brazil

Abstract

The invasive Hedychium coronarium J. König (Zingiberaceae) is a competitive terrestrial herb. To understand the ecological relationships and verify whether H. coronarium impacts the mounting of spiders in the soil, 45 traps were installed, distributed in three treatments and three replicas. All spiders (292 individuals) collected between January and December 2018 were identified. The Intermediate Areas had the highest number of individuals collected and the highest diversity index, with 107 spiders collected (37% of the total), distributed in 14 species, followed by Dominated Areas with 97 individuals (33%) distributed in 12 species and Free Areas with 88 individuals (30%), distributed in 10 species. The analysis showed that the assembly of spiders in Parque Estadual das Fontes do Ipiranga does not present significant differences, these results may not be the result of chance and be related to H. coronarium. Furthermore, two families showed differences in their distribution.