Spiders can help scientists survey plant life by trapping tell-tale pollen in their webs

Spiders can help scientists survey plant life by trapping tell-tale pollen in their webs, says an international team of researchers.

Dr Cheng-Sen Li, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Beijing Museum of Natural History, and colleagues report their findings in the July issue of the journal Review of Palaeobotany and PalynologyCheng and colleagues studied pollen captured in spider webs of southern and central Yunnan, China, and showed that the sticky webs are good at capturing and hanging onto pollen grains from local plants. They say the method may be useful in plant surveys worldwide.

"The [type] of pollen and spores identified from the spider webs can reflect the
vegetation of the sampling site," says Cheng.

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