Unmasking trends and drivers of the international arachnid trade
Introduction:
The global biodiversity crisis represents a major threat to humanity, with the worldwide animal trade being identified as a major driving force. Although vertebrate trade has been subject to intensified research, the extent of invertebrate trade remains understudied. Recent analyses of arachnids (i.e., spiders and scorpions) suggest that there is a large and still-expanding international market which has the potential to threaten natural populations. Whether or not captive breeding has the potential to decrease collection pressure on wild arachnid populations has not been investigated, nor have the temporal dynamics or the trade purposes of arachnids been examined.
Herzig V, Hauke TJ and Lüddecke T (2023), Unmasking trends and drivers of the
international arachnid trade. Front. Arachn. Sci. 2:1161383.,
doi: 10.3389/frchs.2023.1161383
