. Spiders are important generalist predators in forests. However, differences in assemblage structure and diversity can have consequences for their functional impact and conservation approaches. Such differences are particularly evident across latitudes, which can be used to assess general patterns and region-specific characteristics of predator assemblages. 2. Here, we analyze the relationships between species, family and functional (foraging guild) richness as well as α- and β-components of epigeic spider diversity in semi-natural temperate and subtropical forests. 3. As expected, spider species and family richness were higher in subtropical plots. However, foraging guild richness at the plot level did not differ between regions, indicating that spider assemblages in both regions can take on similar functional roles independent of species richness. 4. While this might suggest higher functional redundancy among spiders in the subtropical plots, the observed patterns were caused by a much higher species turnover among these plots, potentially due to region-specific differences in the relative importance of local and regional filters that shape species assemblages. ... 2012-05-11 14:35:06 UTC final SP08e Diversity and functional effects of herbivores, predators and saproxylics in a phytodiverse subtropical forest ecosystem Andreas Schuldt andreas.schuldt@forst.uni-goettingen.de Thorsten Assmann assmann@uni.leuphana.de side false Helge Bruelheide, Prof. helge.bruelheide@botanik.uni-halle.de Karin Nadrowski nadrowski@uni-leipzig.de https://data.botanik.uni-halle.de/bef-china/datasets/205/download https://data.botanik.uni-halle.de/bef-china/datasets/205/download.csv?separate_category_columns=true Schuldt A, Assmann T, Schaefer M (2013) Scale-dependent diversity patterns affect spider assemblages of two contrasting forest ecosystems. Acta Oecologica: 10.1016/j.actao.2013.02.009 2013-02-11 accepted