General information: Arctic and alpine regions are among the most endangered types of ecosystems in the world. Spiders, due to their great diversity and abundance, are one of the most important components of high latitude/altitude ecosystems.

The aim of this project is to combine the scientific efforts of the active Russian group working in spider taxonomy and biogeography and of some West European research groups dealing with arcto-alpine spider communities. The co-operation of these research groups allows the construction of a united concept of composition, distribution and origin of the high latitude/altitude spider fauna. The project will start with taxonomic and faunistic research and will produce revisions of genera, descriptions of new taxa and compiling of checklists. This will form the basis for subsequent generalizations.

The final result of the project will be the complete knowledge of biodiversity and taxonomic composition in the Eurasian arcto-alpine spider fauna, general regularities of its zonal and sectoral structure, as well as reconstruction of its genesis.