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Journal article
Top-down and bottom-up controls on southern New England salt marsh crab populations
PeerJ (San Francisco, CA), v 6(5), pp e4876-e4876
30 May 2018
PMID: 29868281
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Southern New England salt marsh vegetation and habitats are changing rapidly in response to sea-level rise. At the same time, fiddler crab (
Uca
spp.) distributions have expanded and purple marsh crab (
Sesarma reticulatum
) grazing on creekbank vegetation has increased. Sea-level rise and reduced predation pressure drive these changing crab populations but most studies focus on one species; there is a need for community-level assessments of impacts from multiple crab species. There is also a need to identify additional factors that can affect crab populations. We sampled crabs and environmental parameters in four Rhode Island salt marshes in 2014 and compiled existing data to quantify trends in crab abundance and multiple factors that potentially affect crabs. Crab communities were dominated by fiddler and green crabs (
Carcinus maenas
);
S. reticulatum
was much less abundant. Burrow sizes suggest that
Uca
is responsible for most burrows. On the marsh platform, burrows and
Carcinus
abundance were negatively correlated with elevation, soil moisture, and soil percent organic matter and positively correlated with soil bulk density.
Uca
abundance was negatively correlated with
Spartina patens
cover and height and positively correlated with
Spartina alterniflora
cover and soil shear strength. Creekbank burrow density increased dramatically between 1998 and 2016. During the same time, fishing effort and the abundance of birds that prey on crabs decreased, and water levels increased. Unlike in other southern New England marshes where recreational overfishing is hypothesized to drive increasing marsh crab abundance, we propose that changes in crab abundance were likely unrelated to recreational finfish over-harvest; instead, they better track sea-level rise and changing abundances of alternate predators, such as birds. We predict that marsh crab abundance will continue to expand with ongoing sea-level rise, at least until inundation thresholds for crab survival are exceeded.
Metrics
Details
- Title
- Top-down and bottom-up controls on southern New England salt marsh crab populations
- Creators
- Kenneth B. Raposa - National Estuarine Research Reserve AssociationRichard A. McKinney - Environmental Protection AgencyCathleen Wigand - Environmental Protection AgencyJeffrey W. Hollister - Environmental Protection AgencyCassie Lovall - National Estuarine Research Reserve AssociationKatelyn Szura - University of Rhode IslandJohn A. Gurak, Jr - The Scripps Research InstituteJason McNamee - Rhode Island Department of Environmental ManagementChristopher Raithel - University of Rhode IslandElizabeth B. Watson - Drexel University
- Publication Details
- PeerJ (San Francisco, CA), v 6(5), pp e4876-e4876
- Publisher
- PeerJ Inc
- Grant note
- US Environmental Protection Agency Office of Ocean and Coastal Management, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Silver Spring, MD Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Biodiversity, Earth, and Environmental Science (BEES)
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000434233800008
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85047810574
- Other Identifier
- 991019182651704721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Ecology