The dataset contains spider (Araneae) specimen numbers collected from flowering invasive American goldenrod (Solidago canadensis/gigantea) and invasive Himalayan balsam (Impatiens glandulifera) stands occuring naturally in urban areas of the city of Karlsruhe, Germany. Corresponding plots with native ruderalized vegetation in direct vicinity of each invaded plot were used as a comparison plot, resulting in a fully paired design for each plant invader study. An additional column represents potential non-araneae prey items collected together with the spiders from each stand. Spider specimens were determined to the family level as well as classified into web builders and hunters without a web.

18 American goldenrod and 20 Himalayan balsam plots as “invaded” sites were selected, all with a high invader dominance of over 90% and at least 20 stems of the invader plant. All plots are located in urban habitats of Karlsruhe. Native corresponding plots in direct vicinity of each invading plot (10-20m) were selected based on structural similarity (high, ruderalized vegetation with coverage over 90%), resulting in 36 and 40 plots per plant invader study. A sweep net was used to collect spiders from each stand. 20 sweeps per plot were conducted by one of the authors in late August/beginning of September 2018 (FK). Only flowers and the upper parts of the plants were targeted by the sweep net. The material was determined by TB following Nentwig et al. (2019; https://araneae.nmbe.ch/). Classification of families into web builders (web) and hunters without a web (no_web) follows Cardoso et al. 2011 (PlosOne 6: e21710, supplementary material).

Over 90% of the collected spider specimens were juveniles. Therefore, it was decided to determine them only to family level. All material is deposited at the State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe, Germany (SMNK).

The ReadMe-file explains used abbreviations in the tables.