Crab bioturbation and herbivory reduce pre- and post-germination success of Sarcocornia perennis in bare patches of SW Atlantic salt marshes

Alberti, Juan; Escapa, Mauricio; Daleo, Pedro; Casariego, Agustina Méndez; Iribarne, Oscar

doi:10.3354/meps08440

Cited by 19 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Thalassinid shrimps have been shown to influence the distribution of seagrass, in part due to the impact of their burrowing on seedling recruitment (Dumbauld and Wyllie-Echeverria 2003). Alberti et al (2010) reported that burrowing crab Neohelice (Chasmagnathus) granulata reduced the number of seedlings of Sarcocornia perennis (an annual forb) in salt marshes along the southwestern Atlantic. They showed that seed burial through bioturbation limits pre-germination while herbivory limits post-germination.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of mud fiddler crabs (Uca pugnax) on the recruitment of halophyte seedlings in salt marsh dieback areas of Cape Cod (Massachusetts, USA)

Smith

Tyrrell

2011

Ecological Research

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The effects of bioturbation by the mud fiddler crab (Uca pugnax) on salt marsh seedling recruitment were investigated experimentally in this study. Burrowing and foraging activity caused a large amount of soil disturbance, which in turn negatively impacted the establishment of seedlings. Either seeds did not germinate or seedlings were uprooted or buried. Although the majority of the published literature suggests a positive influence of Uca spp. on salt marsh plant growth, at high densities they have the potential to hinder the re-colonization of areas made bare by previous disturbance. This study illustrates the perhaps underappreciated role that bioturbators can have on vegetation patterns in salt marshes and other ecosystems.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of mud fiddler crabs (Uca pugnax) on the recruitment of halophyte seedlings in salt marsh dieback areas of Cape Cod (Massachusetts, USA)

Smith

Tyrrell

2011

Ecological Research

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“…The experiment was a 2 × 2 factorial design with five replicates of each of the following treatments: (1) crab exclosures (0.7 × 0.7 × 0.6 m plastic mesh fences, with 1 cm openings and buried 0.3 m), (2) rhizome exclosures (along the perimeter of the plot we buried 10 cm tall plastic walls), (3) crab and rhizome exclosures, and (4) unmanipulated controls. Crab exclosures have been widely used in this system and the use of cage controls which allowed crabs to move in and out consistently revealed that there are no associated cage artefacts (Alberti et al 2007a, 2010a, b, Daleo et al 2007, 2009, Daleo and Iribarne 2009). The experiment began on November 2006 and ran until March 2010.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This crab is a herbivore–detritivore (Iribarne et al 1997, Bortolus and Iribarne 1999) and stable isotope analyses show that plants of the genus Spartina are its primary food source (Botto et al 2005). Through grazing activities, crabs can exert strong control over marsh plant production (Bortolus and Iribarne 1999, Alberti et al 2007a), affect Sarcocornia perennis seedling colonization of bare areas (Alberti et al 2010a) and influence subsequent succession in tidal flats (Alberti et al 2008), potentially affecting marsh secondary succession. The presence of this herbivorous crab confers to southwestern Atlantic salt marshes a fundamental difference with other previously studied systems (Crain 2008, Bromberg Gedan et al 2009) where herbivores had no effect on secondary succession in stressful zones.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Crab herbivory regulates re‐colonization of disturbed patches in a southwestern Atlantic salt marsh

Daleo

Alberti

Iribarne

2011

Oikos

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Recent work exploring the effects of physical stress and herbivory on secondary succession in estuarine plant communities agrees with basic stress models and reveal that herbivory is an important force in brackish and oligohaline marshes but negligible in physically stressful salt marshes. In these systems, herbivores are terrestrial, and thus negatively affected by the same stressful factors that affect marsh plants (i.e. frequent flooding or high salinities). We evaluated the effects of a marine herbivore (i.e. the crab Neohelice granulata) on plant secondary succession in a southwestern Atlantic salt marsh. Field surveys revealed that disturbance‐generated bare patches have harsh physical conditions and that their edges suffer higher herbivore pressure compared to the marsh matrix. A factorial experiment demonstrated that asexual expansion of the surrounding plants is the only possible mechanism to re‐colonize disturbed patches and that crab exclusion can increase this colonization rate by more than 30 times. Our results show that even in highly stressful environments, herbivores strongly impact marsh structure by regulating patch recovery. The synergism of physical stress and herbivory may make plant succession an extremely slow process and lead to the prevalence of bare areas.

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“…The closely related chenopod genus Sarcocornia is found in southern Australia (Saintilan, 2009 b ), southern Africa (Steffen, Mucina & Kadereit, 2010) and the east coast of South America (e.g. Alberti et al , 2010). Due to insufficient study, and since these genera along with Salicornia are monophyletic (Kadereit, Mucina & Freitag, 2006), it is assumed that those species of the genera Sarcocornia and Tecticornia with a life history and morphology analogous to Salicornia spp.…”

Section: Bottlenecks and Thresholds To Wetland Colonization And Ementioning

confidence: 99%

Are all intertidal wetlands naturally created equal? Bottlenecks, thresholds and knowledge gaps to mangrove and saltmarsh ecosystems

et al. 2011

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Intertidal wetlands such as saltmarshes and mangroves provide numerous important ecological functions, though they are in rapid and global decline. To better conserve and restore these wetland ecosystems, we need an understanding of the fundamental natural bottlenecks and thresholds to their establishment and long-term ecological maintenance. Despite inhabiting similar intertidal positions, the biological traits of these systems differ markedly in structure, phenology, life history, phylogeny and dispersal, suggesting large differences in biophysical interactions. By providing the first systematic comparison between saltmarshes and mangroves, we unravel how the interplay between species-specific life-history traits, biophysical interactions and biogeomorphological feedback processes determine where, when and what wetland can establish, the thresholds to long-term ecosystem stability, and constraints to genetic connectivity between intertidal wetland populations at the landscape level. To understand these process interactions, research into the constraints to wetland development, and biological adaptations to overcome these critical bottlenecks and thresholds requires a truly interdisciplinary approach.

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Crab bioturbation and herbivory reduce pre- and post-germination success of Sarcocornia perennis in bare patches of SW Atlantic salt marshes

Cited by 19 publications

References 46 publications

Effects of mud fiddler crabs (Uca pugnax) on the recruitment of halophyte seedlings in salt marsh dieback areas of Cape Cod (Massachusetts, USA)

Effects of mud fiddler crabs (Uca pugnax) on the recruitment of halophyte seedlings in salt marsh dieback areas of Cape Cod (Massachusetts, USA)

Crab herbivory regulates re‐colonization of disturbed patches in a southwestern Atlantic salt marsh

Are all intertidal wetlands naturally created equal? Bottlenecks, thresholds and knowledge gaps to mangrove and saltmarsh ecosystems

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