We made intensive samplings to study the seasonal response of spiders across different forest strata (ground and understory) in a tropical mountain cloud forest from Mexico. We sampled spiders from ten plots in six sampling events during the dry and rainy season, to analyze their abundance, structure (distribution of abundance among species), diversity and the response of the five dominant species at each stratum. Results demonstrated that seasonal patterns of spider communities differed among strata, revealing a complex spatiotemporal dynamic. Abundance, structure, diversity of ground spiders, as well as the responses of four dominant species at this stratum, showed low seasonal variations. In contrast, a strong seasonal variation was observed for the understory assemblage, with lowest abundance and highest diversity in the rainy season, and different assemblage structures for each season. Seasonal patterns of each assemblage seem linked to the responses of their dominant species. We found high co‐occurrence among most of the ground dominant species with similar habitat use and with multivoltine patterns, contrasting with low co‐occurrence among most of the understory dominant species with similar habitat use and univoltine patterns. Our results showed that the spiders’ assemblages of tropical mountain cloud forest (opposed to what is found in temperate and boreal forests) increase their species richness with the height, and that their responses to seasonal change differ between strata. Management programs of these habitats should consider the spatial and temporal variations found here, as a better understanding of their ecological dynamics is required to support their sustainable management.

中文翻译：

---

热带山地云林地面和林下蜘蛛的多样性和季节变化

我们进行了密集采样，以研究蜘蛛在墨西哥热带山地云林中不同森林地层（地面和林下）的季节性反应。我们在旱季和雨季的 6 个采样事件中从 10 个地块中采样了蜘蛛，以分析它们的丰度、结构（物种间丰度的分布）、多样性和每个层的五个优势物种的响应。结果表明，蜘蛛群落的季节性模式因地层而异，揭示了复杂的时空动态。地蜘蛛的丰度、结构、多样性以及该层四种优势物种的反应均表现出较低的季节性变化。相比之下，林下组合观察到强烈的季节性变化，雨季丰度最低，多样性最高，每个季节都有不同的组合结构。每个组合的季节性模式似乎与其优势物种的反应有关。我们发现大多数具有相似栖息地利用和多伏特模式的地面优势物种之间的共现率很高，而大多数具有相似栖息地利用和单伏特模式的林下优势物种之间的共现率较低。我们的结果表明，热带山地云林中的蜘蛛组合（与温带和寒带森林中发现的相反）随着高度的增加而增加了它们的物种丰富度，并且它们对季节变化的反应因地层而异。这些栖息地的管理计划应考虑这里发现的空间和时间变化，