The Return of the Burrowing Spiders

Dr. Jim Carrel returned to Archbold this February (2018) for his 32nd annual census of rare Burrowing Wolf Spiders (Geolycosa xera archboldi and G. hubbelli). Carrel, Archbold Research Associate and retired Professor at University of Missouri, learned in the beginning of his study how burrowing wolf spiders respond to fire. He shared, ‘After a fire, the population of the burrowing wolf spiders goes up. Then, the scrub regenerates and starts filling in. Leaf litter accumulates. And so spider numbers plummet’. In the last 17 years, he has seen how burrowing wolf spiders respond to unusually wet rainy seasons. In 2017, he recorded just 10 occupied burrows down from a peak of 200-500 in the 1990s. At first, he said, ‘I felt dejected. But then, I thought, wow, this is occurring naturally. It probably happens every 50 years or so when you get years of repeated rains. So, they (burrowing wolf spiders) may disappear from my study site. But, they are elsewhere on the Station. They can recolonize though it may take years.’ Carrel sees the big picture which reminds him of a James Taylor song: ‘I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain and I’ve seen days of endless sun.’ He said, ‘That is pretty much what life out here for these spiders is like’. Watch a short video here to learn more about the longest running study of spiders in the world from a real-life spiderman, Dr. Jim Carrel.