Assessment of Ecosystem Sustainability and Management Measures in the Danube Floodplains in Slovakia by the Bioindicative Value of Spiders (Araneae)

The aim of this research was to record changes in the population structure of epigeic spider assemblages in the Central European Danube Delta (Slovakia) as a result of habitat management measures and the impact of human intervention. During this research (2020–2023), we assessed the impact of management measures on newly planted forest stands and the effect of grazing in semi-natural conditions, and carried out diversity monitoring in flooded meadows. A total of 6344 individuals belonging to 89 spider species were collected by pitfall traps and identified. Using spatial modelling, we observed the following: (i) there are differences between the structures of managed and unmanaged forest stands (larger number of taxa); (ii) the differences in the number of individuals between study plots and years were statistically significant; (iii) the trend analysis of spider communities showed that study plots that underwent management intervention are expected to see an increase in the number of individuals in the future; and (iv) in the areas that did not undergo management, the number of species was stable. Using spiders as bioindicators could therefore answer the question of whether anthropogenic disturbance disrupts ecological stability. This approach utilizes spiders to assess the sustainability of the landscape.