ORIGINAL ABSTRACT

Glyphosate, the most widely used herbicide globally, may inadvertently affect non-target arthropods, including beneficial predators such as spiders. Here, we evaluated the lethal and sublethal effects of glyphosate on spiders (G0) and explored transgenerational impacts on their offspring (G1). Short-term exposure to LC10 and LC30 concentrations significantly altered mating behavior and reproductive output in G0 individuals. Parental exposure further impacted G1 spiders, leading to delayed development, reduced juvenile survival, altered prosoma morphology, and disrupted population-level parameters such as intrinsic growth rate and generation time. Transcriptomic profiling revealed extensive molecular perturbations in glyphosate-exposed spiders. Functional analysis via RNA interference (RNAi) confirmed that detoxification genes-including cytochrome P450, glutathione S-transferase, and carboxylesterase-contribute to glyphosate tolerance. Knockdown of these genes significantly increased spider mortality under glyphosate exposure. Glyphosate suppresses spider reproduction by disrupting both oocyte meiosis-related genes and endocrine pathways. Collectively, our findings demonstrate that glyphosate poses a compound threat to spiders by altering physiological, developmental, and molecular processes across generations, potentially impairing their ecological role as biological control agents.