Spiders are present in similar abundances across habitat
types
Despite the drastically different habitat in ginger-invaded sites and
native forest, we found Pagiopalus in nearly identical
quantities. This is in line with our first hypothesis, in which the
generalist ecological strategies of Pagiopalus would enable
establishment in altered habitat.
Previous findings showed the invasion of guava (Psidium spp.) in
lowland forest of Hawaii is associated with an almost entirely endemic
spider community (Gillespie 1991; Gillespie et al. 1998), with
similar results from ginger-invasion. Similarly, native land snails have
been found to prefer invasive ginger to native plant species, suggesting
no negative effect when the understory plant assemblage shifts (Meyer
2012). This may then suggest that the vegetation may not constitute a
major perturbation to generalist arthropods (Gillespie 1999). However,
as we have discussed, single taxon studies are inadequate to assess the
true impact of invasion on native taxa; an equal abundance ofPagiopalus in ginger does not eliminate the possibility that
invaded sites serve as sinks.