Spiders and carabids as potential bioindicators in eastern Uruguayan environments with different degree of anthropic intervention: a preliminary study | Arañas y carábidos como potenciales bioindicadores en ambientes con distinto grado de intervención antrópica en el este uruguayo: un estudio preliminar

English. Some arthropod groups are considered to be good bioindicators of environmental quality. For that, they must fill some conditions, such as biological and morphological characteristics that lead to their easy find and identification. The pit-fall traps are widely used as an efficient method to collect predator arthropods that may have a good potential as bioindicators of the characteristics of their environment. During a nine months period, fortnightly collects were made in three production systems with different intensity of anthropic intervention, in the Laguna Negra basin, Rocha, Uruguay: natural grassland with low intensity of bovine cattle grazing; bovine and sheep grazed area, and an area under high bovine grazing intensity with winter-summer agriculture. In each of the three areas two series of 10 pitfall traps were installed with a distance 100 m minimum between series and 10 m between traps. Two spider morphospecies,  Mesabolivar sp (Pholcidae) y Steatoda sp (Theridiidae) appeared to be good indicators for the less and most intensified environments, respectively. Other four morphospecies of the families Nemesiidae, Oxyopidae, Lycosidae y Palpimanidae were characterized as detectors to different environments. Four morphospecies of the coleopteran family Carabidae (Calosoma retusum, Galerita collaris, Brachinus sp and Pelecium sp) were defined as indicators of the more intensified system, with agriculture.

Spanish; Castilian. Algunos grupos de artrópodos son considerados buenos indicadores de calidad ambiental. Para ello deben cumplir con algunas condiciones, como poseer características biológicas y morfológicas que faciliten su hallazgo e identificación. Las trampas de caída (pitfall) son ampliamente utilizadas para recolectar artrópodos predadores potencialmente bioindicadores de las características del ambiente que ocupan. Se realizaron recolecciones quincenales, durante nueve meses, en tres sistemas productivos con diferente grado de intervención antrópica en la cuenca de la Laguna Negra, Rocha: área con baja intensidad de pastoreo de vacunos; área con bajo pastoreo de ganado vacuno y ovino, y área con altas cargas de ganado vacuno y agricultura inverno-estival. En cada área se instalaron dos series de 10 trampas pitfall separadas a una distancia mínima de 100 m y a una distancia de 10 m entre trampas. Dos morfoespecies de arañas, Mesabolivar sp (Pholcidae) y Steatoda sp (Theridiidae), fueron determinadas como indicadoras de los ambientes con menor y mayor intensidad de disturbio, respectivamente. Otras cuatro morfoespecies, pertenecientes a las familias Nemesiidae, Oxyopidae, Lycosidae y Palpimanidae, fueron caracterizadas como detectoras de los diferentes ambientes. Cuatro morfoespecies de coleópteros de la familia Carabidae (Calosoma retusum, Galerita collaris, Brachinus sp y Pelecium sp) resultaron indicadoras del ambiente de mayor intensidad productiva, con agricultura.