Arachnologische Mitteilungen 58

Arachnologische Mitteilungen / Arachnology Letters 58: 85-96 Karlsruhe, September 2019 Spiders from steppe habitats of Pláně Nature Monument (Czech Republic) with suggestions for the local conservation management Tomáš Hamřík & Ondřej Košulič doi: 10.30963/aramit5812 Abstract. Spiders from the steppe habitats of the Pláně Nature Monument (Czech Republic) were investigated. The spiders were sam- pled using pitfall traps and through sweeping of the herb vegetation. In total, 11634 individuals from 154 species in 88 genera from 25 families were recorded. Numerous threatened species listed in the Red List of the Czech spiders were found (CR – 1, EN – 1, VU – 11, LC – 23). 36 mainly xerothermic species were recorded, representing a valuable arachnofauna typical for the Pannonian Region. However, the studied area does not belong to this particular region. Several findings represent the northernmost occurrences of rare thermo- philic spiders in the Czech Republic. Ten species ( Dysdera moravica, Megalepthyphantes pseudocollinus, Trichoncus affinis, Porrhomma errans, Alopecosa striatipes, Cheiracanthium oncognathum, Civizelotes pygmaeus, Zelotes aeneus, Thanatus arenarius, Talavera aperta) are discussed in details and their records in the Czech Republic are mapped. Suggestions regarding the management of the area are given to improve the conditions for a high and valuable biodiversity. Keywords: Araneae, biodiversity, inventory, richness estimation, xerothermic species Zusammenfassung. Spinnen von Steppenhabitaten des Naturdenkmals Pláně (Tschechische Republik) mit Vorschlägen für das lokale Naturschutzmanagement. Die Spinnen von Steppenhabitaten des Naturdenkmals Pláně (Tschechische Republik) wurden un- tersucht. Die Erfassung erfolgte mit Bodenfallen und Kescherfängen in der krautigen Vegetation. Insgesamt wurden 11634 Individuen aus 154 Arten, 88 Gattungen und 25 Familien gefangen. Zahlreiche gefährdete Arten der Tschechischen Roten Liste wurden gefunden (CR/vom Aussterben bedroht – 1, EN/stark gefährdet – 1, VU/gefährdet – 11, LC/Vorwarnliste – 23). 36 überwiegend xerotherme Arten wurden erfasst, die zur wertgebenden Spinnenfauna der pannonischen Region gehören – allerdings zählt das Untersuchungsgebiet gar nicht zur pannonischen Region. Zehn Arten ( Dysdera moravica, Megalepthyphantes pseudocollinus, Trichoncus affinis, Porrhomma errans, Alopecosa striatipes, Cheiracanthium oncognathum, Civizelotes pygmaeus, Zelotes aeneus, Thanatus arenarius, Talavera aperta ) wer- den detailliert besprochen und Karten ihrer Nachweise in der Tschechischen Republik präsentiert. Einige der Nachweise sind die nörd- lichsten Vorkommen seltener thermophiler Arten in der Tschechischen Republik. Es werden Vorschläge zum Management des Gebietes gemacht, um die Bedingungen für eine hohe und wertvolle Biodiversität zu verbessern. Differences in spider communities can be found even in small- scale patches within a given habitat (Samu et al. 1999, 2011, Pearce et al. 2004). At a community level, spiders are able to respond quickly and distinctly to short or sudden changes in the environment and some species reliably indicate the state of that environment (Buchar 1983, Samu et al. 2011, Košulič et al. 2016). Thus, spiders play an important role in practical nature conservation. The existence of species of conservation value should be taken into account during habitat manage- ment processing (Marc et al. 1999, Řezáč et al. 2015). Since the middle of 20th century, intensification of agri­ culture, together with an abandonment of less productive lands, has been the major threat to invertebrates in Europe (Tscharntke et al. 2005). Pastures are transformed into a large blocks of fields for crop production or abandonment (Stoate et al. 2009). Lower demand for forage and poor-quality hay are the reasons why traditional grazing and mowing are no longer sustainable (Valkó et al. 2014). In the recent cultivated landscape, grasslands have a significant role in maintaining biodiversity by providing important habitats and refuges for many species (Duelli 1997). Thus, faunistic investigations in these habitats can provide important data useful for evaluati- on of the biodiversity state in the current landscape. For this reason, this research focuses on the Pláně Nature Monument (NM), an abandoned pasture with xeric grasslands in a south and south-eastern orientation. Several zoological inventories that were carried out in the study area focused on the following taxa: Orthoptera, Man- todea, Heteroptera, Hymenoptera, Coleoptera, Lepidopte- ra, Diptera, Reptilia, Aves and Mammalia (Nenadál 1994). Additionally, a botanical inventory was conducted (Tichý 2016). Spiders have never been studied within the area of the Pláně NM; to date, only several findings from this region are known. Křížová (2001) found 146 species of spiders approxi- mately 1.5 km away from this region, in Libochovka Valley, during an arachnological survey in 1999 to 2000. Since then, no further study was conducted in the surrounding areas of the Pláně NM (ČAS 2019). The main objective of this research is a faunistic contri- bution on spiders from the steppe habitats of the Pláně NM, which could be beneficial to the area’s conservation manage- ment. Consequently, relevant conservation management in­ stitutions could take into account these new findings and develop plans based on this research, which would eventually strengthen the protection of local biodiversity. Material and methods Study area The Pláně NM is located in the district of Brno-venkov, 500 m north-west from the village of Kuřimská Nová Ves in the Southern Moravia region of the Czech Republic (Fig. 1, 49.35139°N, 16.30361°E) and belongs to the faunistic square 6663 of the faunistic zoological grid mapping system in the Czech Republic.The protected area has 11.1 ha and is mostly composed of forest and shrubs.The south and south-east parts are composed of a slope with rocks and xeric grasslands on shallow soils (approximately 1.2 ha). The natural forest com- munities of the study area are oak-hornbeam, acidophilic oak forests, and pine forests on the poor sandy soils with Festuca ovina , Agrostis capillaris , Genista tinctoria and Luzula campest- ris . The geological substrate is characterized by ortorula with Tomáš Hamřík, Ondřej Košulič, Department of Forest Protection andWildlife Management, Faculty of Forestry andWood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 3, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic; E-mail: hamr.tom@seznam.cz , Ondra.Kosulic@seznam.cz submitted 31.1.2019, accepted 12.8.2019, online 13.9.2019