A habitat suitability index model for the trapdoor spider species, 'Arbanitis variabilis'

Abstract

A habitat suitability model was created for the trapdoor spider species Arbanitis variabilis, to delineate the species general distribution within the Maiala National Park, Brisbane, Queensland. Existing literature of trapdoor spider species microhabitats was combined with a pilot study to propose the dominant parameters associated with the focal species preferred niche. Topographic and thematic aspects including elevation, aspect, slope, drainage, vegetation, transport and public access walking tracks were used to rate the habitat suitability of areas. As information concerning the specific interactions between the species and environmental parameters could not be discerned within the scope of the present study, tree classification ranking, additive map algebra and rule based methods were adopted to calculate the habitat suitability index for each cell. Assessment of the validity of the model by checking the ground truth has not yet been conducted.