Diversity and Ecology of Spiders in Kuttanad Rice Agroecosystem

During the past decade there has been interest in the employment of natural enemies, notably predators for the regulation of insect pests. Despite their importance, the systematics of spiders and the role they play in pest population regulation has received little attention. Limited systematic information is available to support work in biological control including the basic need of species identification. It is there fore of great priority to make a systematic study of rice field dwelling spiders in various rice environments to document and characterize the spider fauna as a basis for biocontrol studies. The diversity, density, population fluctuation, feeding potential, prey preference, breeding behavior and insecticide resistance of spiders are important in any kind of attempt for the implementation of integrated pest management system (IPM).