The impact of climate change on wolf spider phenology

Anthropogenic climate change (ACC) and global warming are destabilizing factors for ecosystems worldwide. As ectotherms, invertebrates are among the first affected, with warmer temperatures causing faster growth rates. The goal of this research was to examine impacts of rising temperatures due to climate change have on phenology of the Brush-legged wolf spider, Schizocosa ocreata . Molt records of spiders collected from the Cincinnati Nature Center as part of ongoing research from 2001 to 2024 were evaluated. From each year, four dates were obtained: the dates when the first male and first female matured, and the dates when half of the male and half of the female populations had matured. Median annual temperatures and growing degree days (GDD - a measure of environmental heat accumulation), were calculated for each year prior to the start of maturation to determine the relationship between temperature and maturation rate. Results show a strong negative correlation between median temperature, GDD and maturation dates, with both male and female wolf spiders maturing 25 to 30 days earlier in 2024 than in 2001. The difference in peak maturation date of typically asynchronous males and females also decreased over the 23-year study, from > 10 days to < 5, with implications for sex ratio and sexual selection. These findings offer evidence that rising temperatures are having a significant effect on the phenology of these common forest-dwelling wolf spiders and underscore the importance of further investigation into the impacts of climate change on other spider populations.