Global literature of fiddler crabs, genus Uca (Decapoda, Ocypodidae): trends and future directions

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Crabs of the genus Uca Leach, 1814 are characterized by having strong sexual dimorphism and a global distribution. Currently, 97 species have been described and analyzed under several aspects, including population ecology, physiology and ethology. However, there is no general summary of the information from the various literatures. The aim of this study is to perform a scientometric analysis of fiddler crab studies. For this we searched papers available in the Thomson ISI database that contained the words "Uca" OR "fiddler* crab*" between the years 1991 and 2007. For each paper, we researched and recorded the following characteristics: publication year; journal of publication; the first author's nationality; the country where the study was conducted; study type; species studied; and the work area. Our results indicated that there was no increase in the number of articles through the years considered. The Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology published most of the articles on Uca, indicating the importance of this group as a model for testing ecological hypotheses using experimental approaches. Our results also showed that United States had the highest number of authors and published studies on Uca, following the overall trend in dominance on scientific research. Furthermore, using models with three variables (per capita income, number of species of Uca and extent of coastal countries) we observed that, according to the Akaike Information Criterion, the per capita income was the most important correlate for the number of articles per country (both the author's country and country of study). Additionally, our results show that the species U. pugilator (distributed on the East Coast of the North American continent) was the species most singularly referenced in the papers considered. Moreover, our results indicate that most studies on Uca use a descriptive and local scale. The majority of papers in our literature search reflect studies in population biology, followed by behavioral and physiological characteristics. KEYWORDS.Scientometrics, population biology, Uca pugilator, AIC, Per capita income.RESUMO. Literatura global sobre caranguejos violinistas, gênero Uca (Decapoda, Ocypodidae): tendências e direções futuras. Caranguejos do gênero Uca Leach, 1814 são caracterizados por apresentarem forte dimorfismo sexual e são globalmente distribuídos. Atualmente são descritas 97 espécies desse gênero, sendo estudados em diversos aspectos como ecologia de populações, fisiologia e etologia. Entretanto, até o presente não existe um trabalho que sintetize as informações da literatura científica sobre esse grupo. O objetivo desse trabalho foi realizar uma análise cienciométrica sobre estudos de caranguejo Uca. Para isso, buscou-se artigos que continham os termos "Uca" OR "fiddler* crab*, entre 1991 e 2007, disponíveis na base de informações bibliográficas do Thomson ISI. Para cada artigo foram coletadas informações como ano de publicação, periódico onde o artigo foi publicado, nacionalidade do primeiro au...

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