The issue of carbon emissions from tea plantations is currently the focus of global attention. The agricultural field ecosystem is a major factor in maintaining a balance, and plays a significant role in counteracting emissions. Our aim was to explore the aggregation indices, individual number, spatial distribution, dynamic occurrence, and principal component of arthropods, and their effects on tea plantations. Field experiments were conducted at the Drinkable Plants Research Institute, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Yingde County, Guangdong, China. Sampling was carried out continuously from January to December, 2009.In order to develop more effective pest control on tea plantations, four plantations were surveyed to quantify the effects of different surrounding habitats on both the pest (the leafhopper, Empoasca vitis Gothe) and predatory spider populations. No pesticides were used on the plantations. The results showed that: (1) The biggest aggregation occurred in the tea plantations surrounded by mixed natural woodland (plantation Ⅰ) or pure Acacia confusa communities (plantation Ⅲ). The greatest numbers of leafhoppers (692) occurred in plantation Ⅰ; however, this value was not significantly different from that found in the other three tea plantations (P>0.05). The number of predatory spiders in plantation Ⅲ (1155) was significantly higher than that found in the other three tea plantations (P<0.05). (2) Analysis of the behavior of all aggregated spider species showed that the number of spiders that remained in their webs was relatively small (295), which is significantly less than the 2957 spiders that were observed moving. The diversity index and species-rich value were both highest in plantations Ⅰ and Ⅲ. This had an obvious effect on leafhopper numbers, which were significantly higher than those found in plantations close to paddy fields (plantation Ⅱ) or to a village (plantation Ⅳ). Both predatory spiders and leafhoppers showed aggregated distribution, caused by their own biological habits and the common environment; different ways of managing habitats lead to significant differences in the size and diversity of the spider communities and the size of the leafhopper population. (3) Multivariate data analysis showed that the comprehensive distribution characteristics of the spider communities-both in time and space-had the potential for significant improvement in plantations Ⅰ and Ⅲ, over those in plantations Ⅱ and Ⅳ (P<0.05). These data enabled the behavior of predatory spiders in tracking their leafhopper prey to be examined. The aggregation density of spiders in the tea plantations was: plantation Ⅰ (close to mixed natural woodland) > plantation Ⅲ (close to pure Acacia confusa communities) > plantation Ⅳ (close to a village) > plantation Ⅱ (close to paddy fields). These results indicate that the habitat surrounding a tea plantation, being a relatively stable and complex structure, affects the spatial and temporal pattern of both leafhopper and spider populations through ecological processes. This leads to an increase in the quantity of spiders moving about on the tea trees, which creates a synergistic effect of leafhopper capture, hence improving the ability of predatory spiders to control leafhopper numbers.