Tundra wolf spider abundance and phenology shift with distance from the Dempster Highway

Monday, November 14, 2022

9:12 AM – 9:24 AM PT

Location: Vancouver Convention Centre, Meeting Room 224

Presenting Author(s)

Stephanie Gagnon (she/her/hers)

MSc Student
McGill University
Montréal, Canada

Co-Author(s)

CS

Catherine Scott

Postdoctoral Fellow
McGill University
Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Québec, Canada
CB

Christopher Buddle

McGill University, Macdonald Campus
Ste Anne De Bellevue, QC, Canada

The Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the planet, making it particularly vulnerable to disturbances such as habitat fragmentation. The Dempster Highway is the main road that crosses the northern Yukon, and wolf spiders are apex arthropod predators on the tundra. We investigated the effects of the Dempster on wolf spider abundance, phenology, and community structure by sampling plots near (10 m) and far (200 m) from the highway. Wolf spider abundance was lower and phenology was more advanced near the road, suggesting that the Dempster Highway impacts tundra arthropod community structure.