Sex, size, and prey caloric value affect diet specialization and consumption of an invasive prey by a native predator

Hostert, Lauren E.; Pintor, Lauren M.; Byers, James E.

doi:10.1093/cz/zoy076

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Several factors likely increased variation in these two metrics. First, intraspecific diet variation and specialization is common across a broad range of organisms ( Bolnick et al, 2003 ), including crabs ( e.g ., Griffen et al, 2012 ; Hostert, Pintor & Byers, 2019 ). Intraspecific diet variation in crabs is caused by ontogenetic changes ( e.g ., Perez & Bellwood, 1988 ; Stoner & Buchanan, 1990 ; Lim, Yong & Christy, 2016 ), site-specific differences ( e.g ., Morrow, Bell & Tewfik, 2014 ; Griffen et al, 2020b ) or seasonal differences ( e.g ., Kennish, 1997 ; Griffen et al, 2012 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting diet in brachyuran crabs using external morphology

Quezada-Villa

Cannizzo

Carver

et al. 2023

PeerJ

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Morphological traits have often been used to predict diet and trophic position of species across many animal groups. Variation in gut size of closely related animals is known to be a good predictor of dietary habits. Species that are more herbivorous or that persist on low-quality diets often have larger stomachs than their carnivorous counterparts. This same pattern exists in crabs and in most species, individuals exhibit external markings on the dorsal side of their carapace that appear to align with the position and size of their gut. We hypothesized that these external markings could be used as an accurate estimate of the crab’s cardiac stomach size, allowing an approximation of crab dietary strategies without the need to sacrifice and dissect individual animals. We used literature values for mean diet and standardized external gut size markings taken from crab photographs across 50 species to show that percent herbivory in the diet increases non-linearly across species of brachyuran crab with the external estimate of gut size. We also used data from dissections in four species to show that external gut markings were positively correlated with gut sizes, though the strength of this correlation differed across species. We conclude that when rough approximations of diet quality such as percent herbivory will suffice, measuring external carapace markings in crabs presents a quick, free, non-lethal alternative to dissections. Our results also provide important insights into tradeoffs that occur in crab morphology and have implications for crab evolution.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting diet in brachyuran crabs using external morphology

Quezada-Villa

Cannizzo

Carver

et al. 2023

PeerJ

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“…armatus (carapace width 7-10 mm), E. depressus (carapace width 7-12 mm) and G. demissa (shell length 20-30mm) from the same oyster reefs and housed them in separate ow-through seawater tanks. The size ranges were chosen based on previous work looking at the consumption of these prey species by Pa. herbstii (Hostert et al 2019).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Proportionally, Pe. armatus can compose on average anywhere from 35-42% of the most common prey items of Pa. herbstii within invaded oyster reef communities in Georgia (Kinney et al 2019) and has a caloric value that is similar to many native prey items on the reef (Hostert et al 2019). Pa. herbstii is a generalist predator that commonly consumes native crabs, mussels, and oysters, as well as non-native Pe.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Density-dependent predation and predator preference for native prey may facilitate an invasive crab’s escape from natural enemies

et al. 2023

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Native predators can confer biotic resistance through consumption of invasive prey. However, early in the invasion process, native predators may initially ignore an invader when it is rare and only increase consumption once it becomes abundant. Furthermore, the willingness of native predators to consume novel invasive prey may be in uenced by the similarity of the invader to other native prey species that are favored or familiar. Here we examined whether a native predator (the common mudcrab, Panopeus herbstii) consumes the invasive lter-feeding crab, Petrolisthes armatus as a function of Pe. armatus abundance relative to native prey and the similarity of Pe. armatus to native prey. Using choice experiments, we quanti ed consumption of invasive Pe. armatus when its abundance was either rare, equal, or more abundant than native prey that were either taxonomically similar (crab, Eurypanoepus depressus) or dissimilar (mussel, Geukensia demissa) to the invader. We found that the absolute consumption of invasive Pe. armatus increased as its relative availability increased, but only in treatments where the alternative prey was a native crab. This suggests that prior experience of the native predator with a similar prey may prime the predator to consume more invasive Pe. armatus. A hierarchical Bayesian analysis determined that both native prey species were preferentially consumed by the native predator Pa. herbstii even when native prey were rare or equal in abundance to invasive Pe. armatus. These results suggest that density-dependent predation plus a persistent preference for native prey by native Pa. herbstii predators may help explain how Pe. armatus escapes its natural enemies.

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“…Following these measurements, we placed the dissected body and the gut into separate aluminum weigh boats and dried them to constant weight at 60°C (e.g. Hostert et al 2019). Dried body and gut were then weighed using a XS205DU Mettler Toledo semimicro balance.…”

Section: Standardized Gut Sizementioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of season and latitude on the diet quality of the invasive Asian shore crab Hemigrapsus sanguineus

Reese

Alder

Asay

et al. 2023

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Invasive species alter invaded ecosystems via direct impacts such as consumption. In turn, an invasive species’ ability to thrive in new habitats depends on its ability to exploit available resources, which may change over time and space. Diet quality and quantity are indicators of a consumer’s consumptive effects and can be strongly influenced by season and latitude. We examined the effects of season and latitude on the diet quality and quantity of the invasive Asian shore crab Hemigrapsus sanguineus throughout a non-winter sampling year at 5 different sites spanning 8° of latitude across its invaded United States range. We found that diet quality, averaged through time, largely follows an expected latitudinal cline, being higher in the center of its range and lower toward the southern and northern edges. We also found that while some sites show similar patterns of diet quality variation with season, no pattern is consistent across all latitudes. Finally, we found that crabs at sites with low diet quality during summer reproductive months did not compensate by increasing total consumption. Because the Asian shore crab is an important consumer in its invaded ecosystems, understanding how its diet quality and quantity vary with season and latitude can help us better understand how this species influences trophic interactions and community structure, how it has been able to establish across a wide ecological and environmental range, and where future range expansion is most likely to occur.

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Sex, size, and prey caloric value affect diet specialization and consumption of an invasive prey by a native predator

Cited by 9 publications

References 42 publications

Predicting diet in brachyuran crabs using external morphology

Predicting diet in brachyuran crabs using external morphology

Density-dependent predation and predator preference for native prey may facilitate an invasive crab’s escape from natural enemies

Effects of season and latitude on the diet quality of the invasive Asian shore crab Hemigrapsus sanguineus

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