Winter squash is an excellent source of vitamin A, vitamin C, alpha-carotene and beta-carotene. It is also a very good source of thiamin, vitamin B6, potassium, magnesium, and manganese, and a good source of iron.
Spiders are, for the most part, such generalist feeders that they kill many useful insects as well as many pest species, however because pest species are by their nature more numerous than beneficial species they are still effective. They are of great value to the environment.
As more information becomes available, however, scientists are gaining a better understanding of spiders' integral role in natural systems and of the need to improve protection efforts. Approximately 3,500 spider species, with an additional 350 yet undescribed, exist in the United States and Canada (Roth 1993). They are abundant predators in many terrestrial ecosystems, with estimates of populations in field habitats approaching one million individuals per hectare (Bristowe 1971).