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.