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Burrowing crab effects across a tidal marsh successional chronosequence located along Mississippi sound
27 May 2025
Abstract
Burrowing crab engineers can affect the biological structure and sediment
conditions of their environments. However, it is challenging to predict
when and where burrow effects will manifest, as they are often site- and
habitat-specific. We used a tidal marsh restoration chronosequence to
explore crab burrow effects on plant communities (e.g., percent cover,
biomass, stem heights) and sediment characteristics (e.g., bulk density,
organic matter, carbon and nitrogen stocks) through early succession. In a
field survey, we compared plants and sediments between plots with high and
low crab burrow densities within three habitat zones: mud flat (i.e., 0-1
years old), young marsh (i.e., ~1-6 years old), and old marsh (i.e., ~6+
years old). In a manipulative experiment, we tested the physical effects
of crab burrows on plants and sediments at the mud flat-young marsh
ecotone using burrow mimics. In our field survey, crab burrow density did
not influence plants or sediments. Rather, plant biomass and stem heights,
as well as sediment bulk density, organic matter, carbon, and nitrogen,
differed between habitat zones, following expected marsh successional
trajectories of development over time. However, in our manipulative
experiment, crab burrow mimics had a strong positive effect on plants at
the ecotone, suggesting crab burrows can facilitate plant expansion into
unvegetated mud flats. Thus, crab burrow effects appear to peak in early
successional ecotones where burrowing mediates environmental stressors and
promotes vegetative growth, with implications for the recovery of
biological structure and sediment properties following restoration.
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Details
- Title
- Burrowing crab effects across a tidal marsh successional chronosequence located along Mississippi sound
- Creators
- Shelby Rinehart - Drexel UniversityMorgan Sharbaugh - University of AlabamaJulia Cherry - University of AlabamaJacob Dybiec - University of Alabama
- Publisher
- Dryad
- Grant note
- Drexel University (https://ror.org/04bdffz58) University of Alabama (https://ror.org/03xrrjk67)
- Resource Type
- Dataset
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Biodiversity, Earth, and Environmental Science (BEES)
- Other Identifier
- 991022054738604721