What drives the distribution of crab burrows in different habitats of intertidal salt marshes, Yellow River Delta, China

Li, Shanze; Cui, Baoshan; Xie, Tian; Bai, Junhong; Shi, Wei

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2017.11.003

Cited by 23 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Coverdale et al (2012) found that Sesarma reticulatum in the northeastern United States needs sediment soft enough to burrow into, but firm enough to avoid burrow collapse. Li et al (2018) working on Helice tientsinensis in the Yellow River Delta of China found crab abundance to be linked to sediment moisture and soil compressibility. Li et al (2018) working on Helice tientsinensis in the Yellow River Delta of China found crab abundance to be linked to sediment moisture and soil compressibility.…”

Section: Generality Of Distribution and Abundance Patternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Vu and Pennings (2017) found that the same species had predictable patterns of distribution in the southeastern United States, with highest abundance near creek heads, but three other species showed no clear patterns. Li et al (2018) working on Helice tientsinensis in the Yellow River Delta of China found crab abundance to be linked to sediment moisture and soil compressibility. Overall, our broadscale assessment and species-level characterizations match these individual studies: elevation, creek proximity, and sediment conditions affect crab distribution and abundance, but there are differences among sites and crab species.…”

Section: Generality Of Distribution and Abundance Patternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Pattern and scale: evaluating generalities in crab distributions and marsh dynamics from small plots to a national scale

Wasson

Raposa

Almeida

et al. 2019

Ecology

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The generality of ecological patterns depends inextricably on the scale at which they are examined. We investigated patterns of crab distribution and the relationship between crabs and vegetation in salt marshes at multiple scales. By using consistent monitoring protocols across 15 U.S. National Estuarine Research Reserves, we were able to synthesize patterns from the scale of quadrats to the entire marsh landscape to regional and national scales. Some generalities emerged across marshes from our overall models, and these are useful for informing broad coastal management policy. We found that crab burrow distribution within a marsh could be predicted by marsh elevation, distance to creek and soil compressibility. While these physical factors also affected marsh vegetation cover, we did not find a strong or consistent overall effect of crabs at a broad scale in our multivariate model, though regressions conducted separately for each site revealed that crab burrows were negatively correlated with vegetation cover at 4 out of 15 sites. This contrasts with recent smaller-scale studies and meta-analyses synthesizing such studies that detected strong negative effects of crabs on marshes, likely because we sampled across the entire marsh landscape, while targeted studies are typically limited to low-lying areas near creeks, where crab burrow densities are highest. Our results suggest that sea-level rise generally poses a bigger threat to marshes than crabs, but there will likely be interactions between these physical and biological factors. Beyond these generalities across marshes, we detected some regional differences in crab community composition, richness, and abundance. However, we found striking differences among sites within regions, and within sites, in terms of crab abundance and relationships to marsh integrity. Although generalities are broadly useful, our findings indicate that local managers cannot rely on data from other nearby systems, but rather need local information for developing salt marsh management strategies.

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Section: Generality Of Distribution and Abundance Patternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Generality Of Distribution and Abundance Patternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pattern and scale: evaluating generalities in crab distributions and marsh dynamics from small plots to a national scale

Wasson

Raposa

Almeida

et al. 2019

Ecology

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“…In particular, soil compaction or soil density of novel marshes would likely influence the capacity of crabs to burrow; i.e., more compact sediments are more difficult to burrow into. We see this in other burrowing crabs, such as Helice tientsinensis in China, which have higher burrow densities in softer and wetter sediments than harder and drier sediments that are more difficult to burrow into (Li et al, 2018). Fiddler crabs burrow to feed, avoid predation, and to mate (Bertness and Miller, 1984 .…”

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confidence: 67%

Sediment Selection: Range Expanding Fiddler Crabs are Better Burrowers Than Their Historic Range Counterparts

Wong

Roy

Byrnes

2020

Preprint

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Species ranges are shifting in response to climate change. In New England saltmarshes, the mud fiddler crab, Minuca pugnax, is expanding north of Cape Cod, MA into the Gulf of Maine (GoM) due to warming waters. The burrowing lifestyle of M. pugnax means sediment compaction in saltmarshes may influence the ability for crabs to dig, with more compact soils being resilient to burrowing. Previous studies indicate that saltmarshes along the GoM have higher soil strength (i.e., compaction) relative to marshes south of Cape Cod. Together, physical characteristics and temperature of this habitat may be influencing the burrowing performance of M. pugnax, and therefore the continuation of their northward range expansion into the GoM. To determine if compaction affects burrowing activity of M. pugnax in historical and range expanded populations, we conducted a controlled laboratory experiment. We manipulated soil compaction in standardized lab assays and measured crab burrowing performance with individuals collected from Nantucket (i.e., historical range) and the Plum Island Estuary (PIE, i.e., expanded range). We determined compaction negatively affected burrowing ability in crabs from both sites; however, crabs from PIE burrowed in higher soil compactions than Nantucket crabs. In addition, PIE crabs were more likely to burrow overall. We conclude that site level differences in compaction are likely altering burrowing behavior in the crab’s expanded range territory by way of phenotypic plasticity or rapid evolution. Our study demonstrates that non-temperature physical habitat traits can be as important as temperature in influencing climate driven range expansions.

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“…Aboveground biomass (AGB) in each quadrat was collected, bagged and dried for 12 h to a constant weight in an 80 • C oven. In addition, previous studies have suggested that crabs can play an important role as ecosystem engineers, with important effects on many aspects of salt marsh ecosystems including plant performance and SOC accumulation [20,30,31]. Considering that spatial patterns can serve as useful indicators for inferring ecological process in many cases [24,26,32], we characterized local spatial patterns (within the quadrats) of crab (Chiromantes dehaani was the dominant species in our study sites) burrows to quantify the effects of crab activities in a comprehensive and simple way.…”

Section: Soil Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To further assess if indirect effects could possibly shape the SOC distribution, we used structural equation modeling to take into account the indirect effects of abiotic soil variables and crab burrows. Based on previous studies [20,30,31,36], we tested for the indirect effects of soil properties (BD, pH and EC) on SOC through affecting plant performance (AGB) and crab burrowing, and the indirect effects of crab burrowing on SOC through affecting plant AGB. These effects were represented by the following three specific causal pathways, (1) soil properties → plant AGB → SOC, (2) soil bulk density (hardness for burrowing) → crab burrowing → SOC and (3) soil bulk density → crab burrowing → plant AGB → SOC.…”

Section: Statistical Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

System-Specific Complex Interactions Shape Soil Organic Carbon Distribution in Coastal Salt Marshes

Yang

Miao

Wang

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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Coastal wetlands provide many critical ecosystem services including carbon storage. Soil organic carbon (SOC) is the most important component of carbon stock in coastal salt marshes. However, there are large uncertainties when estimating SOC stock in coastal salt marshes at large spatial scales. So far, information on the spatial heterogeneity of SOC distribution and determinants remains limited. Moreover, the role of complex ecological interactions in shaping SOC distribution is poorly understood. Here, we report detailed field surveys on plant, soil and crab burrowing activities in two inter-tidal salt marsh sites with similar habitat conditions in Eastern China. Our between-site comparison revealed slight differences in SOC storage and a similar vertical SOC distribution pattern across soil depths of 0–60 cm. Between the two study sites, we found substantially different effects of biotic and abiotic factors on SOC distribution. Complex interactions involving indirect effects between soil, plants and macrobenthos (crabs) may influence SOC distribution at a landscape scale. Marked differences in the SOC determinants between the study sites indicate that the underlying driving mechanisms of SOC distribution are strongly system-specific. Future work taking into account complex interactions and spatial heterogeneity is needed for better estimating of blue carbon stock and dynamics.

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What drives the distribution of crab burrows in different habitats of intertidal salt marshes, Yellow River Delta, China

Cited by 23 publications

References 41 publications

Pattern and scale: evaluating generalities in crab distributions and marsh dynamics from small plots to a national scale

Pattern and scale: evaluating generalities in crab distributions and marsh dynamics from small plots to a national scale

Sediment Selection: Range Expanding Fiddler Crabs are Better Burrowers Than Their Historic Range Counterparts

System-Specific Complex Interactions Shape Soil Organic Carbon Distribution in Coastal Salt Marshes

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