Exploring the Factors Driving the Success of Urban-Exploiting Spiders

The impacts of urbanization are driving a dramatic shift in the types of habitats available to animals. Although there are often negative consequences for species occupying highly modified habitats, other species are able to cope with or even thrive under novel conditions. However, it is difficult to identify general patterns in the traits that influence the success of animals in cities. Spiders are perhaps the most diverse and abundant terrestrial predator group on the planet, and they offer an excellent opportunity to study these patterns. Spiders are impacted by a wide range of anthropogenic changes, including habitat structure, novel water sources, urban heat, various pollutants, and shifts in biotic interactions. Although urban-exploiting spiders are morphologically and phylogenetically diverse, we found some patterns in urban success. Current literature suggests a mixed relationship between body size and urban success, but also that urban success is facilitated by flexibility in habitat use, diets, and other behaviors such as web building. Additionally, tolerance of high or low temperatures can allow species to occupy different urban habitats. Our review on this ecologically vital group of predators aims to facilitate further study of spider natural history and an increased understanding of the drivers of urban biodiversity.