Burrowing Crabs Weaken Mutualism Between Foundation Species

Derksen‐Hooijberg, Marlous; Heide, Tjisse van der; Lamers, Leon P. M.; Borst, Annieke; Smolders, Alfons J. P.; Govers, Laura L.; Hoogveld, J.R.H.; Angelini, Christine

doi:10.1007/s10021-018-0301-x

Cited by 14 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…turbidity, dissolved oxygen, temperature, salinity), may enhance predictions regarding which seagrass areas will be more or less vulnerable to die-off precipitated by environmental stress and which areas may recover more quickly following die-off events. Co-transplantation of lucinids may also enhance the success of seagrass transplanted for restoration, as has been experimentally demonstrated for ribbed mussels and cordgrass (Derksen-Hooijberg et al, 2018). Thus, consideration of context dependency in facilitation may assist managers seeking to refine relatively low-investment, high-reward conservation and restoration strategies in the face of increasing anthropogenic impact and global change.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Facilitation of a tropical seagrass by a chemosymbiotic bivalve increases with environmental stress

et al. 2020

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Facilitation of foundation species is critical to the structure, function and persistence of ecosystems. Understanding the dependence of the strength of this facilitation on environmental conditions is important for informed ecosystem management and for predicting the impacts of global change. In coastal seagrass habitats, chemosymbiotic lucinid bivalves can facilitate seagrasses by decreasing potentially toxic levels of sulphide in sediment porewater. However, variation in the strength of lucinid–seagrass facilitation with environmental context has not been experimentally investigated. We tested the hypothesis that the presence of the tiger lucine Codakia orbicularis becomes more important to the growth and survival of the seagrass Thalassia testudinum under decreased light availability and increased sulphide stress. In a mesocosm experiment, we reduced average ambient‐light to T. testudinum by 64% and/or increased sediment porewater sulphide concentrations by ~200% and compared growth and tissue chemistry of T. testudinum with and without C. orbicularis. We found that T. testudinum was better able to maintain growth under shading and sulphide stress when C. orbicularis was present. C. orbicularis strongly decreased sediment porewater sulphide, an effect that minimized sulphur build‐up in seagrass tissue and was likely achieved through bioirrigation as well as chemoautotrophy. The relative effects of C. orbicularis on T. testudinum growth were strongest in the presence of environmental stressors. Synthesis. The strength of lucinid–seagrass facilitation increases under environmental conditions that hinder the ability of seagrass to detoxify sulphide. Our results provide evidence of a potential mechanism by which the spatiotemporal association between lucinids and seagrasses is maintained and support the incorporation of interspecific facilitation into conservation and restoration strategies for foundation species in the face of increasing anthropogenic impact and global change.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Facilitation of a tropical seagrass by a chemosymbiotic bivalve increases with environmental stress

et al. 2020

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“…S3). A previous study found that crabs can reduce nitrogen availability (Derksen‐Hooijberg et al 2018). Together, these observations suggest that crabs may overwhelm cordgrass under nutrient limitation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Alternatively, crabs may be driving this lower root:shoot ratio by damaging or consuming roots. Previous studies have found that burrowing crabs can damage and deplete belowground root structures when maintaining their burrows (Wilson et al 2012, Vu et al 2017, Derksen‐Hooijberg et al 2018). Therefore, due to the high burrow density at San Dieguito Lagoon, plants may be unable to produce sufficient belowground biomass due to crab burrowing.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Local and regional variation in effects of burrowing crabs on plant community structure

Walker

Rinehart

White

et al. 2020

Ecology

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Burrowing animals can profoundly influence the structure of surrounding communities, as well as the performance of individual species. Changes in the community structure of burrowing animals or plants together with changing abiotic parameters could shift the influence of burrowers on surrounding habitats. For example, prior studies in salt marshes suggest that fiddler crabs stimulate cordgrass production, but leaf‐grazing crabs suppress cordgrass production. Unfortunately, testing this prediction and others are impeded because few studies have examined crab impacts on the plant community and across multiple sites, multiple years, or both. This challenges our ability to predict how burrowing animals will influence plant community structure, and when and where these impacts will occur. We manipulated the densities of the dominant burrowing crabs in plant assemblages dominated by Pacific cordgrass (Spartina foliosa) and perennial pickleweed (Sarcocornia pacifica) at three sites in southern California for three years (2016, 2017, 2018). Crab impacts on plant community structure differed among each of our three sites. In contrast to our predictions, (1) leaf‐grazing crabs (Pachygrapsus crassipes) had positive effects on cordgrass cover at one site and no effect on cordgrass production at a nearby site in the same marsh and (2) fiddler crabs (Uca crenulata) did not stimulate cordgrass production at another marsh. Because crabs affected traits of cordgrass, but not pickleweed, in the direction consistent with changes in cordgrass cover, we propose that marsh‐specific crab effects on community structure were largely mediated through changes in cordgrass, as opposed to pickleweed. Importantly, crabs facilitated cordgrass during marsh‐wide cordgrass loss, suggesting that crabs may mitigate environmental stress for this ecologically important plant. Because cordgrass abundance can be a critical measure of marsh functioning and is often a restoration target, we suggest that managing cordgrass populations would benefit from additional information about crab populations and their impacts among years, and among and within marshes.

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“…The window of effective implementation of restoration techniques that include positive interactions is likely spatio-temporally constrained, especially in successional-based restoration efforts related to trait-based ontogenetic shifts in organism relationships (Figures 1 and 2). Evidence for such a relationship is already resulting from re-vegetation efforts (e.g., grasslands, forests and marshes; Bersoza Hernández et al, 2018;Derksen-Hooijberg et al, 2018;Padilla & Pugnaire, 2006;Silliman et al, 2015) and coastal shoreline restoration projects (Bersoza Hernández et al, 2018;Fischman et al, 2019). However, more work is needed to iden- (Callaway & Walker, 1997;Miriti, 2006); therefore, such relationships could be lost or altered by climate-driven phenological mismatch.…”

Section: Appli C Ati On and Re S Tor Ati On: Integ R Ating Con Cep mentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward spatio‐temporal delineation of positive interactions in ecology

Tumolo

Calle

Anderson

et al. 2020

Ecology and Evolution

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Given unprecedented rates of biodiversity loss, there is an urgency to better understand the ecological consequences of interactions among organisms that may lost or altered. Positive interactions among organisms of the same or different species that directly or indirectly improve performance of at least one participant can structure populations and communities and control ecosystem process. However, we are still in need of synthetic approaches to better understand how positive interactions scale spatio‐temporally across a range of taxa and ecosystems. Here, we synthesize two complementary approaches to more rigorously describe positive interactions and their consequences among organisms, across taxa, and over spatio‐temporal scales. In the first approach, which we call the mechanistic approach, we make a distinction between two principal mechanisms of facilitation—habitat modification and resource modification. Considering the differences in these two mechanisms is critical because it delineates the potential spatio‐temporal bounds over which a positive interaction can occur. We offer guidance on improved sampling regimes for quantification of these mechanistic interactions and their consequences. Second, we present a trait‐based approach in which traits of facilitators or traits of beneficiaries can modulate their magnitude of effect or how they respond to either of the positive interaction mechanisms, respectively. Therefore, both approaches can be integrated together by quantifying the degree to which a focal facilitator's or beneficiary's traits explain the magnitude of a positive effect in space and time. Furthermore, we demonstrate how field measurements and analytical techniques can be used to collect and analyze data to test the predictions presented herein. We conclude by discussing how these approaches can be applied to contemporary challenges in ecology, such as conservation and restoration and suggest avenues for future research.

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Burrowing Crabs Weaken Mutualism Between Foundation Species

Cited by 14 publications

References 56 publications

Facilitation of a tropical seagrass by a chemosymbiotic bivalve increases with environmental stress

Facilitation of a tropical seagrass by a chemosymbiotic bivalve increases with environmental stress

Local and regional variation in effects of burrowing crabs on plant community structure

Toward spatio‐temporal delineation of positive interactions in ecology

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