 |
Location of sampling sites in Spokane
Co., Wash. Click to enlarge. |
The ponderosa pine (
Pinus ponderosa) forests of Spokane County, Washington would be our sampling home for the next 5 days. First stop, McLellan Conservation Area. As Rod
described it, "410 acres at the tip of a north-jutting peninsula surrounded by Spokane River waters impounded by Nine Mile Dam".
 |
| Cones & needle litter in riparian veg. |
We found two forest zones along the trail from the parking lot to the river, riparian and upland. I was eager to sample the cones laying in the riparian zone since this was a configuration I'd had little access to previously.
 |
| Spot the spider collector? |
I'd just started tapping cones when the skies opened and sent me running into the rain shadow of a big tree. Rod, who had been sampling the riparian vegetation, "sheltered in place".
 |
| Rain drops on spider silk |
And then the sun came out! Not only were we treated to a lovely rainbow over the river, but the lingering rain drops helped me spot tiny spider webs between cone scales. Fifty tapped cones produced 31 spiders and 6 identifiable species, while the bag o' needle litter produced 17 spiders and 4 identifiable species. Quite a haul!
Meioneta bucklei and
M. simplex (Linyphiidae) were present in both cones and litter.
 |
| Upland site |
Moving on to the upland site, which was comprised of 100% ponderosa pines and blanketed with sumptuously thick needle litter, I collected 6 spiders and 3 species from 50 cones, but got skunked again by the litter.
 |
| "All's well that ends well" |
No comments:
Post a Comment