Burrow‐digging organisms act as ecosystem engineers, providing potential habitat to other organisms. In the Mid North region of South Australia, wolf and trapdoor spiders in fragmented grassland communities provide this service. Pygmy bluetongue lizards are an endangered skink, endemic to these grasslands. The lizards obligatorily use burrows dug by these spider groups as refuges, basking sites and ambush points. We investigated the occupancy of these spider burrows by lizards and other organisms within the grassland community, identifying the occasions that burrows were shared by multiple taxa. We found that the lizards and trapdoor spiders are predominantly solitary, while wolf spiders co‐shared burrows more frequently with either weevils or snails. There were numerous taxa that were found to regularly co‐share with other taxa, particularly snails, centipedes and weevils. There was a strong temporal influence on burrow sharing, with most co‐sharing occurring late in summer. This study provides an insight into the use of burrows by the lizards and co‐existing taxa within these grassland communities. The dynamics of burrow‐use by other taxa have the potential to influence long‐term conservation of these lizards as burrow availability is crucial to their survival in these grasslands.

中文翻译：

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草地群落内蜘蛛工程洞穴的共居随时间变化

挖洞生物充当生态系统工程师，为其他生物提供潜在的栖息地。在南澳大利亚中北部地区，分散的草原社区中的狼和活门蜘蛛提供这种服务。侏儒蓝舌蜥蜴是一种濒临灭绝的石龙子，是这些草原的特有物种。蜥蜴必须使用这些蜘蛛群挖的洞穴作为避难所、晒太阳的场所和伏击点。我们调查了草原群落中蜥蜴和其他生物对这些蜘蛛洞穴的占用情况，确定了多个类群共享洞穴的情况。我们发现蜥蜴和活板门蜘蛛主要是独居的，而狼蛛更频繁地与象鼻虫或蜗牛共享洞穴。有许多分类群被发现定期与其他分类群共享，尤其是蜗牛、蜈蚣和象鼻虫。对洞穴共享有很强的时间影响，大多数共享发生在夏末。这项研究提供了对蜥蜴和这些草原社区内共存类群使用洞穴的深入了解。其他类群使用洞穴的动态有可能影响这些蜥蜴的长期保护，因为洞穴的可用性对其在这些草原上的生存至关重要。