Fiddler crab control of cordgrass primary production in sandy sediments

Holdredge, Christine; Bertness, Mark D.; Herrmann, Nicholas C.; Gedan, Keryn B.

doi:10.3354/meps08331

Cited by 48 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 48 publications

(59 reference statements)

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“…450 g DW m -2 (Holdredge et al, 2010) and ca. 6500 g DW m -2 in fine sediments (Michel et al, 2009).…”

Section: Subterranean Biomass Of Cordgrassesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Among cordgrasses with a "guerrilla" growth-form, S. alterniflora in western Atlantic low salt marshes accumulates between 100 and 1100 g DW m -2 . Changes in S. alterniflora biomass between populations are related mainly with its short and tall forms, varying its shoot height between 20 and 140 cm, also with a highly variable shoot density that changes markedly between 100 and 4000 shoot m -2 (Craft et al, 1999(Craft et al, , 2002(Craft et al, , 2003Proffitt et al, 2005;Culbertson et al, 2008;Darby & Turner 2008b;McFarlin et al, 2008;Sala et al, 2008;Tyrrell et al, 2008;Buchsbaum et al, 2009;Gonzalez Trilla et al, 2009;Krull & Craft, 2009;Michel et al, 2009;Holdredge et al, 2010). One year after invading Chinese marshes, S. alterniflora accumulated ca.…”

Section: Aerial Biomass Of Cordgrassesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, deposit-feeding fiddler crabs (Uca sp.) increase S. alterniflora biomass accumulation growing on sandy sediment by enhancing nutrient deposition (Holdredge et al, 2010) and grazing by small grazers may carry out a top-down control on Spartina biomass dynamic (Sala et al, 2008;Tyrrell et al, 2008). Above-ground biomass of cordgrasses may collapse very fast as a result of die-back processes related with long flooding periods and sediment anoxia, drought events or nutrient exhaustion (Webb et al, 1995;Castillo et al, 2000;McKee et al, 2004;Ogburn & Alber, 2006;).…”

Section: Aerial Biomass Of Cordgrassesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast, radial transects are applied when isolated clumps are easy to distinguish (Castellanos et al, 1994;Nieva et al, 2001a). The most frequent plot sizes are quadrants of 0.01 m2 (10 cm side) (Buchsbaum et al, 2009;Zhou et al, 2009a), 0.04 m 2 (20 cm side) (Castillo et al, 2008a;Culbertson et al, 2008;Buchsbaum et al, 2009;Charles & Dukes, 2009), 0.09 m 2 (30 cm side) (Holdredge et al, 2010) and 0.25 m 2 (50 cm side) (Schmalzer et al, 1991;Darby & Turner, 2008a,b;Krull & Craft, 2009;Wang et al, 2009;Zhou et al, 2009b) (Table 1). Larger plots normally show lower biomass values than smaller plots since they include both, areas with high and low shoot densities.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cordgrass Biomass in Salt Marshes

Castillo¹,

Rubio-Casal²,

Figueroa³

2010

Biomass

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“…450 g DW m -2 (Holdredge et al, 2010) and ca. 6500 g DW m -2 in fine sediments (Michel et al, 2009).…”

Section: Subterranean Biomass Of Cordgrassesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Aerial Biomass Of Cordgrassesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Aerial Biomass Of Cordgrassesmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Cordgrass Biomass in Salt Marshes

Castillo¹,

Rubio-Casal²,

Figueroa³

2010

Biomass

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“…Olafsson et al 2002, Needham et al 2011, by impacting primary production (e.g. Holdredge et al 2010), and by driving tree recruitment patterns in tropical coastal forests (Lindquist et al 2009). Many of these ecological functions are associated with crab diet or foraging strategy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fitness-associated consequences of an omnivorous diet for the mangrove tree crab Aratus pisonii

Riley¹,

Vogel²,

Griffen³

2014

Aquat. Biol.

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Omnivory is a widespread trophic strategy with variable impacts on survival and reproduction, even within closely related taxonomic groups. In coastal ecosystems experiencing extensive environmental changes, many decapod crustaceans employ omnivorous feeding strategies. Because animals initially respond to environmental changes with behavioral modifications that can alter their foraging habits, a mechanistic understanding of how diet influences fitness is essential to predict the impact of future environmental changes on species fitness and population dynamics. We investigated the impact of an omnivorous diet on the consumption, survivorship, physiological condition, and reproductive effort of the mangrove tree crab Aratus pisonii, a major mangrove consumer. A. pisonii engaged in compensatory feeding on plant material; crabs consumed more food and digested it less efficiently as the proportion of plant material in their diet increased. Although there were relatively few deaths, survival appeared to be negatively impacted by the consumption of large quantities of animal material and marginally negatively influenced by high levels of plant consumption. Physiological condition improved due to consumption of both plant and animal material, while only consumption of animal material increased reproductive investment. These results demonstrate that the opportunistic inclusion of animal material in the diet of A. pisonii significantly improves physiological condition and reproductive effort, and suggests that vitellogenic individuals cannot fully compensate for a lack of animal material in their diet by increasing plant consumption. This study provides a mechanistic framework to understand how potential diet changes by omnivorous crabs such as A. pisonii, which are facing numerous changes in their environment, may impact their fitness and population dynamics.

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Predator size‐structure and species identity determine cascading effects in a coastal ecosystem

Griffin

Silliman

2018

Ecology and Evolution

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Cascading consequences of predator extinctions are well documented, but impacts of perturbations to predator size‐structure and how these vary across species remain unclear. Body size is hypothesized to be a key trait governing individual predators' impact on ecosystems. Therefore, shifts in predator size‐structure should trigger ecosystem ramifications which are consistent across functionally similar species. Using a US salt marsh as a model system, we tested this hypothesis by manipulating size class (small, medium, and large) and size diversity (combination of all three size classes) within two closely related and functionally similar predatory crab species over 4 months. Across treatments, predators suppressed densities of a dominant grazer and an ecosystem engineer, enhanced plant biomass, and altered sediment properties (redox potential and saturation). Over the metabolically equivalent experimental predator treatments, small size class predators had stronger average impacts on response variables, and size class interacted with predator species identity to drive engineer suppression. Within both predator species, size diversity increased cannibalism and slightly weakened the average impact. These results show that predator impacts in a salt marsh ecosystem are determined by both size class and size diversity; they also highlight that size class can have species‐dependent and response‐dependent effects, underlining the challenge of generalizing trait effects.

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Fiddler crab control of cordgrass primary production in sandy sediments

Cited by 48 publications

References 48 publications

Cordgrass Biomass in Salt Marshes

Cordgrass Biomass in Salt Marshes

Fitness-associated consequences of an omnivorous diet for the mangrove tree crab Aratus pisonii

Predator size‐structure and species identity determine cascading effects in a coastal ecosystem

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