Ipotesi di utilizzo dei ragni costruttori di tele nello studio della qualità ambientale degli ecotoni

About a possible use of web-building Spiders in the study of ecotonal quality. To study environmental quality a new methodology is proposed, cosisting in quantification and classification - in their families - of the Spider-webs in ecotones of the same surface. The data have been compared with others, obtained with different methods in italian and foreign areas, and with the results of an experimental application in the Apennines. The first study demonstrated the importance, for web-building Spiders in ecotones, of structural complexity of the environment, of specific richness of non-herbaceous vegetation, of spatial distribution of the vegetation, of web supports, of wind violence and shelter availability. The method semms therefore to be efficacious, with some difficulties mainly phenological, expecially ij comparative evaluations between ecotones in the same environment.