Shoreline spiders have been proposed as sentinels to monitor aquatic contaminants including methylmercury (MeHg). The present study examined the effect of spider body size on MeHg concentrations in shoreline spiders. We collected 6 taxa of spiders belonging to 4 families (orb‐weavers [Araneidae], long‐jawed orb weavers [Tetragnathidae: Tetragnatha sp.], jumping spiders [Salticidae], and wolf spiders [Lycosidae: Pardosa sp., Rabidosa sp., and Schizocosa sp.]) from the shorelines of 14 human‐made ponds at the Lyndon B. Johnson National Grasslands in north Texas (USA). As a proxy for body size, we measured leg length (tibia + patella) of each spider. Spider taxa differed by 3‐fold in mean MeHg concentration, and MeHg concentrations in 4 of 6 spider taxa increased significantly with leg length. The present study is the first to demonstrate that shoreline spider MeHg concentrations increase as a function of spider body size. Because spider size may account for some within‐taxa variation in MeHg concentrations, future studies that utilize spiders as sentinels of aquatic contamination by MeHg or other biomagnifying contaminants should take spider size into account. Environ Toxicol Chem 2021;40:1149–1154. © 2020 SETAC.

中文翻译：

---

体型对海岸线蜘蛛甲基汞浓度的影响：对它们用作哨兵的影响

海岸线蜘蛛已被提议作为监测包括甲基汞 (MeHg) 在内的水生污染物的哨兵。本研究检查了蜘蛛体大小对海岸线蜘蛛中甲基汞浓度的影响。我们收集了属于 4 个科的 6 个蜘蛛类群（圆蛛科 [Araneidae]、长颚圆蛛科[Tetragnathidae：Tetragnatha sp.]、跳蛛科 [Salticidae] 和狼蛛 [Lycosidae：Pardosa sp.、Rabidosa sp.]。 , 和裂殖子sp.]）来自德克萨斯州北部（美国）林登 B.约翰逊国家草原的 14 个人造池塘的海岸线。作为体型的代表，我们测量了每只蜘蛛的腿长（胫骨 + 髌骨）。蜘蛛类群的平均甲基汞浓度相差 3 倍，6 个蜘蛛类群中有 4 个的甲基汞浓度随着腿的长度而显着增加。本研究首次证明海岸线蜘蛛甲基汞浓度随蜘蛛体型的增加而增加。因为蜘蛛的大小可能解释了 MeHg 浓度的某些类群内的变化，未来将蜘蛛作为 MeHg 或其他生物放大污染物的水生污染哨兵的研究应该考虑蜘蛛的大小。环境毒理学化学2021；40：1149-1154。© 2020 SETAC。