Published Paper Details:

The study aims at assessing the effects of habitat fragmentation on spider distribution in the urban, agricultural, and natural habitats of Nallamala forest, Andhra Pradesh. The study was carried out for six months, and the spider sampling methods included pitfall traps and visual encounters inSundipenta project region, agricultural Dornala region, and natural Rajiv Ghandi Wildlife Sanctuary. It was found that there are highly significant differences in the spider species richness and diversity among the different landscapes. The natural site had the highest species richness and diversity indices than the other sites while the urban site had the lowest. The results of statistical tests further showed that spider diversity was significantly affected by the type of landscape (p < 0. 001). NMDS and PERMANOVA tests suggested that spider assemblages were significantly different among the landscape types. The rarefaction curves indicated that the sampling effort for the natural and agricultural sites was sufficient, whereas the sampling effort for the urban site may require further sampling. The results of this study show that habitat fragmentation has a negative impact on spider species richness and that future conservation efforts should focus on combating urbanization and intensive agriculture.