蜘蛛飞航研究进展

Advances in spider ballooning research

种群扩散能够避免生物类群在同一栖息地中的资源竞争和同类相残,促进基因流动,具有重要的进化和生态意义。相比于昆虫的迁飞行为,某些不具翅的节肢动物也能够借助细丝的作用而实现远距离扩散,即飞航。蜘蛛为肉食性动物,是陆地生态系统的重要组成部分,在生态系统中防控害虫方面作用显著。飞航是蜘蛛的一种重要扩散方式,在其物种形成、生态位分化及害虫防控等方面具有重要意义,但有关其飞航扩散的报道较少。本文回顾了蜘蛛飞航的研究历程,大致可分为三个阶段;总结了其研究现状,包括飞航蜘蛛的优势类群及特征、飞航过程中的三个环节(即起飞、空中航行和降落)及影响因子、两种飞航机制及四种相关模型、飞航蜘蛛采集和研究方法。同时基于过往研究,指出了未来蜘蛛飞航研究的重点领域:加强飞航蜘蛛类群鉴定工作,继续深度挖掘飞航数据与环境因子间的关系,探索蜘蛛飞航的全过程(包括起飞、空中航行和降落),更加明确蜘蛛飞航作为一种扩散方式的意义。本综述将为蜘蛛飞航的知识普及、资源保护和利用等方面提供重要参考。

Backgrounds:Population dispersal is important for avoiding resource competition and cannibalism in the same habitat,and for ensuring gene flow which has an evolutionary and ecological importance.Some wingless arthropods can achieve long-distance dispersal using their filaments(which is called ballooning).Spiders are important for terrestrial ecosystems and can play a significant role in pest control due to being carnivores.Ballooning is one of the most important dispersal modes for spiders and is believed to be important for speciation,niche differentiation and pest control.Yet,focus on the role ballooning plays for dispersal has been given less attention.Progresses:In this study,we review the research history of spider ballooning(which can be categorized into three periods)and summarize the progress that had been made which includes:the dominant groups and characteristics of ballooning spiders,understanding the three stages of ballooning(take-off,flight,and setting)and influencing factors,two prevalent theories explaining the mechanism of ballooning with four related models,and information on the collection of spiders as well as other research methods.Prospects:In order to exclusively understand the significance of ballooning for population dispersal,research emphases are being put forward to strengthen the identification of ballooning spiders,better understanding the relationship between ballooning data with environmental factors,and to explore the whole process of spider ballooning(e.g.,take-off,flight,and setting).We hope this study will serve as an important reference for knowledge popularization,resource protection and utilization of ballooning.