Biodiversity Data Journal :
Data Paper (Biosciences)
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Corresponding author: Stefano Mammola (stefano.mammola@cnr.it), Pedro Cardoso (pedro.cardoso@helsinki.fi), Marco Isaia (marco.isaia@unito.it)
Academic editor: Jeremy Miller
Received: 24 Jul 2019 | Accepted: 07 Oct 2019 | Published: 08 Oct 2019
© 2019 Stefano Mammola, Pedro Cardoso, Dorottya Angyal, Gergely Balázs, Theo Blick, Hervé Brustel, Julian Carter, Srećko Ćurčić, Samuel Danflous, László Dányi, Sylvain Déjean, Christo Deltshev, Mert Elverici, Jon Fernández, Fulvio Gasparo, Marjan Komnenov, Christian Komposch, L’ubomír Kováč, Kadir Kunt, Andrej Mock, Oana Moldovan, Maria Naumova, Martina Pavlek, Carlos Prieto, Carles Ribera, Robert Rozwałka, Vlastimil Růžička, Robert Vargovitsh, Stefan Zaenker, Marco Isaia
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Mammola S, Cardoso P, Angyal D, Balázs G, Blick T, Brustel H, Carter J, Ćurčić S, Danflous S, Dányi L, Déjean S, Deltshev C, Elverici M, Fernández J, Gasparo F, Komnenov M, Komposch C, Kováč L, Kunt KB, Mock A, Moldovan O, Naumova M, Pavlek M, Prieto CE, Ribera C, Rozwałka R, Růžička V, Vargovitsh RS, Zaenker S, Isaia M (2019) Continental data on cave-dwelling spider communities across Europe (Arachnida: Araneae). Biodiversity Data Journal 7: e38492. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.7.e38492
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Spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) are widespread in subterranean ecosystems worldwide and represent an important component of subterranean trophic webs. Yet, global-scale diversity patterns of subterranean spiders are still mostly unknown. In the frame of the CAWEB project, a European joint network of cave arachnologists, we collected data on cave-dwelling spider communities across Europe in order to explore their continental diversity patterns. Two main datasets were compiled: one listing all subterranean spider species recorded in numerous subterranean localities across Europe and another with high resolution data about the subterranean habitat in which they were collected. From these two datasets, we further generated a third dataset with individual geo-referenced occurrence records for all these species.
Data from 475 geo-referenced subterranean localities (caves, mines and other artificial subterranean sites, interstitial habitats) are herein made available. For each subterranean locality, information about the composition of the spider community is provided, along with local geomorphological and habitat features. Altogether, these communities account for > 300 unique taxonomic entities and 2,091 unique geo-referenced occurrence records, that are made available via the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) (
Araneae; cave; Europe; spiders; subterranean biology; troglophile; troglobiont
Spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) are widespread in caves and other subterranean ecosystems worldwide, representing an important component of subterranean trophic webs (
Yet, the accessible information about the ecology of most subterranean spiders is still limited, especially when considering broad-scale spatial and temporal patterns of subterranean communities (that is, a macroecological perspective). Indeed, due to the general paucity of information on most subterranean spiders (e.g.
Europe.
35.0 and 67.0 Latitude; –9.0 and 37.0 Longitude.
Rank | Scientific Name | Common Name |
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order | Araneae | Spiders |
A dataset with all the referenced distribution points of the species considered in the subterranean localities included in the CAWEB project. This biodiversity dataset is constructed following the Darwin Core standard.
Column label | Column description |
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id | An alphanumeric identifier ("Ara" followed by a progressive number; e.g. Ara0001) for the Occurrence (as opposed to a particular digital record of the occurrence). |
basisOfRecord | The specific nature of the data record. Categorical vairable. Either 'PreservedSpecimens' (data record based on specimens stored in a museum or private collection), 'Literature' (data record based on literature information) or HumanObservation (data record based on personal observations by the author of each records). See "notes" and "referencesSpecies" columns in the "Cave description.csv" dataset for full bibliographic details. |
collectionCode | For "PreservedSpecimens", the name identifying the collection or dataset from which the record was derived. Note that, in spelling institutions and collection names, we have omitted accents (e.g. á, è, ò) and special characters (e.g. ä, č, ê) in order to avoid formatting problems. |
informationWithheld | Additional information relative to each record, indicating the person to contact for information about the record. Note that, in spelling contact names, we have omitted accents (e.g. á, è, ò) and special characters (e.g. ä, č, ê) in order to avoid formatting problems. |
datasetName | The name of the dataset from which the record was derived. |
bibliographicCitation | The bibliographic reference for the resource, indicating how individual records should be cited (attributed) when used. |
country | The name of the country or major administrative unit in which the verbatimLocality is situated. |
locationID | An identifier for the set of location information. Same as the column ID in the "Cave_description" dataset. |
verbatimLocality | The original textual description of the locality. |
decimalLatitude | The geographic latitude (in decimal degrees, using the spatial reference system given in geodeticDatum) of the geographic centre of a location. |
decimalLongitude | The geographic longitude (in decimal degrees, using the spatial reference system given in geodeticDatum) of the geographic centre of a location. |
geodeticDatum | The ellipsoid, geodetic datum or spatial reference system (SRS) upon which the geographic coordinates, given in decimalLatitude and decimalLongitude, are based. |
georeferenceProtocol | A description or reference to the methods used to determine the spatial footprint, coordinates and uncertainties. |
phylum | The full scientific name of the phylum or division in which the taxon is classified. |
class | The full scientific name of the class in which the taxon is classified. |
order | The full scientific name of the order in which the taxon is classified. |
family | The full scientific name of the family in which the taxon is classified. |
genus | The full scientific name of the genus in which the taxon is classified. |
specificEpithet | Specific epithet of the taxonomic record. |
specificName | The full scientific name, with authorship and date information if known. |
scientificNameAuthorship | The authorship information for the scientific name formatted according to the conventions of the applicable nomenclatural code. |
taxonRank | The highest taxonomic rank in the specificName – either a genus or a species. |
A dataset with all the information about the subterranean localities included in the CAWEB project. The R notation 'NA' is used for missing values.
Column label | Column description |
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ID | An alphanumeric identifier ("CAVE_" followed by a progressive number; e.g. CAVE_001) for the subterranean locality. Note that the exact same "ID" is used in the "Community_composition" dataset, in order to unambiguously link each subterranean locality with its spider community's composition. |
locality | Name of the cave/subterranean locality. Not translated in English. |
country | The name of the country or major administrative unit in which the subterranean locality is situated. |
decimalLongitude | The geographic longitude of the entrance of the subterranean locality. |
decimalLatitude | The geographic latitude of the entrance of the subterranean locality. |
geodeticDatum | The ellipsoid, geodetic datum or spatial reference system (SRS) upon which the geographic coordinates given in decimalLatitude and decimalLongitude are based. |
elevation | Altitude a.s.l. of the subterranean locality's main entrance in metres (m). |
aspect | The direction that the main entrance of the cave/subterranean locality faces. Categorical variables. N = North; S = South; E = East; W = West; flat = entrance in a plane terrain. |
entranceNumber | Number of known subterranean localities' entrances (if any). |
entranceType | The general morphology of the subterranean locality's main entrance. Categorical variables. ascendent = ascending; descendent = descending entrance; horizontal = horizontal entrance; pit = vertical entrance. |
entranceSize | Size (base x height) of the subterranean locality's main entrance in square metres (m2). |
entranceHabitat | Prevalent habitat in which the subterranean locality opens. Categorical variables. Either "agricultural", "forest", "grass", "rocky", "shrubs" or "urbanized". |
entranceHabitatVerbatim | A verbatim description of the habitat in which the subterranean locality opens. |
development | The subterranean locality total planimetric development in metres (m). |
positiveDrop | Total ascent of the subterranean locality in metres (m). |
negativeDrop | Total descent of the subterranean locality in metres (m). |
caveType | The type of subterranean locality. Categorical variable. Either "artificial" (e.g. mine, mineshafts, military bunkers, railways, subterranean blockhouses, cellars etc.), "ialine" (ialine caves), "ice" (ice caves), "karst" (karst caves, dolines etc.), "other" (other types; e.g. interstitial habitats), "tectonic" (talus caves, cracks, faults etc.), "volcanic" (volcanic caves, lava tubes etc.). |
caveMorphology | The general morphology of the subterranean locality (i.e. prevalent morphology along the locality). Categorical variables. ascendent = prevalently an ascending morphology; descendent = prevalently a descending morphology; horizontal = prevalently a horizontal morphology; pit = primarily a vertical pit/abyss. |
caveActive | Binary variable. If the subterranean locality is active (1) or not (0). An active cave is a cave which has a stream flowing in it. |
caveTouristic | Binary variable. If the subterranean locality is open to general tourists (1) or not (0). |
notes | Additional notes about the subterranean locality. |
referencesLocality | References with additional information about the subterranean locality (if any). |
referencesSpecies | References with additional information about the spider species reported for the subterranean locality (if any). |
contributorName | Name(s) of the person(s) who contributed information about the subterranean locality. Note that, in spelling contributors names, we have omitted accents (e.g. á, è, ò) and special characters (e.g. ä, č, ê) in order to avoid formatting problems. |
contributorEmail | E-mail adress(es) of the person(s) who contributed information about the subterranean locality. |
A dataset with the spider community composition (species presence/absence data) of each subterranean locality included in the CAWEB project.
Column label | Column description |
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Family | The full scientific name of the family in which the taxon is classified. |
Genus | The full scientific name of the genus in which the taxon is classified. |
Species | Species epithet of the scientificName. |
Author | The authorship information for the scientificName formatted according to the conventions of the applicable nomenclaturalCode. |
specificName | Genus and species combined together. |
taxonRank | The highest taxonomic rank available (either genus or species). |
Adaptation | Habitat preference of the species. Note that accidental species are not included in the dataset – full details in Mammola et al. (2018a). Binary variable. Either troglobiont (1) or troglophile (0). |
species_lsid | Unique Life Science Identifier (LSID) for the taxon, based on the World Spider Catalog (doi: 10.24436/2). The LSID allows a user to keep track of taxonomical changes in the status of species or link together datasets regardless of taxonomical changes. |
Alphanumeric codes (CAVE_number) in progressive order | Each column after the first eight columns is labelled with an alphanumeric identifier ("CAVE_", followed by a progressive number; e.g. CAVE_001), referring to the subterranean locality as in the column "ID" of the "Community_composition" dataset. For each Genus_species in the dataset, the presence (1) or absence (0) within the subterranean locality is indicated. |
The CAWEB dataset comprises data for 475 subterranean localities (Fig.
Subterranean localities included in the dataset account for over 300 spider species, that is more than half of the subterranean spider diversity in Europe (
The distribution of the four most abundant species in the CAWEB dataset. Shades of grey represent altitude.
The over-arching goal of the CAWEB project was to assemble a continental dataset with information about the spider community composition of subterranean localities across the European latitudinal range. This dataset also contains local data on geomorphological and habitat features of these localities. Similar high-resolution data are rarely associated with broad-scale datasets used for macroecological analyses. Therefore, the CAWEB dataset can be used to explore a range of biogeographical and macroecological questions, potentially extending beyond arachnology and subterranean biology (see
One of the experts who provided data for this data paper, Boyan Petrov (1973–2018), sadly disappeared during the ascension of Mount Shishapangma (8,027 m a.s.l.) in the Himalaya. We are thankful to Jeremy Miller for his wise editorial guidance and to Gustavo Hormiga, Stano Pekar, Darrell Ubick and Cor Vink for useful suggestions for improvements.
SM wrote the first draft of the paper. PC supervised data submission. MI coordinated the network of experts who provided data to compile the dataset. AM and LK provided data from Slovakia. CD, MN, and SĆ provided data from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia. CK provided data from Austria. TB and SZ provided data from Germany. DA, LD and GB provided data from Hungary. CEP, CR and JF provided data from Spain. FG provided data from Slovenia. KBK and ME provided data from Turkey. MK and MP provided data from North Macedonia and Montenegro. MI and SM provided data from Italy. MP provided data from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. OTM provided data from Romania. PC provided data from Finland and Portugal. RR provided data from Poland. RSV provided data from Ukraine. VR provided data from the Czech Republic.