Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T14:42:44.520Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Changes in the behaviour of Ocypode quadrata (Fabricius, 1787) after experimental trampling

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2018

Leonardo Lopes Costa ,
Julyana Figueiredo Madureira  and
Ilana Rosental Zalmon
Leonardo Lopes Costa*
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Ciências Ambientais, Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense, Avenida Alberto Lamego 2000, Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ 28013-602, Brazil
Julyana Figueiredo Madureira
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Ciências Ambientais, Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense, Avenida Alberto Lamego 2000, Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ 28013-602, Brazil
Ilana Rosental Zalmon
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Ciências Ambientais, Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense, Avenida Alberto Lamego 2000, Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ 28013-602, Brazil
*
Author for correspondence: Leonardo Lopes Costa, E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The effects of trampling are usually confounded by the diffuse impacts of the urbanization of sandy beaches. We performed a controlled experiment on a beach with low visitation rates to test the hypothesis that ghost crabs avoid building their burrows on impacted plots as a result of the compacted sediment, and they migrate to non-trampled areas. The sampling design encompassed 11 survey quadrats (6 × 6 m) above the strandline, including five trampled plots (100, 300, 900, 1500 and 3000 steps) and six non-trampled plots. The plots were sampled before and after 24, 48 and 72 h of experimental trampling. We found that the ghost crabs avoided building their burrows in only the 1500× and 3000× trampled plots after 24 h, but the avoidance was not related to sediment compactness. Additionally, the emersion time and escape distance from humans were significantly delayed in the most trampled plots, suggesting a lower surface activity and an avoidance of irregular (i.e. high micro-relief) sediment surfaces by ghost crabs, which might reduce their ability to perceive potential predators.

Keywords

Experimental approachghost crabhuman impactsandy beach
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 99 , Issue 5 , August 2019 , pp. 1135 - 1140
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Blankensteyn, A (2006) O uso do caranguejo maria-farinha Ocypode quadrata (Fabricius) como indicador de impactos antropogênicos em praias da Ilha de Santa Catarina, Brasil. Revista Brasileira de Zoologia 23, 870–876.Google Scholar
Branco, JO, Hillesheim, JC, Fracasso, HAA, Christoffersen, ML and Evangelista, CL (2010) Bioecology of the ghost crab Ocypode quadrata (Fabricius, 1787) (Crustacea: Brachyura) compared with other intertidal crabs in the Southwestern Atlantic. Journal of Shellfish Research 29, 503–512.Google Scholar
Burnham, KP and Anderson, DR (2002) Model Selection and Multimodel Inference. New York, NY: Springer Science & Business Media.Google Scholar
Costa, LL, Rangel, DF and Zalmon, IR (2018) Evidence of marine debris usage by the ghost crab Ocypode quadrata (Fabricius, 1787). Marine Pollution Bulletin 128, 438–445.Google Scholar
De Oliveira, CAG, Souza, GN and Soares-Gomes, A (2016) Measuring burrows as a feasible non-destructive method for studying the population dynamics of ghost crabs. Marine Biodiversity 46, 809–817.Google Scholar
Haley, SR (1972) Reproductive cycling in the ghost crab, Ocypode quadrata (Fabr.) (Brachyura, Ocypodidae). Crustaceana 23, 1–11.Google Scholar
Jaramillo, E, Contreras, H and Quijon, P (1996) Macroinfauna and human disturbance in a sandy beach of south-central Chile. Revista Chilena de História Natural 69, 655–663.Google Scholar
Lim, SSL, Yong, AYP, Tantichodok, P, Lim, SSL, Yong, AYP and Tantichodok, P (2011) Comparison of burrow morphology of juvenile and young adult Ocypode ceratophthalmus from Sai Kaew, Thailand. Journal of Crustacean Biology 31, 59–65.Google Scholar
Lucrezi, S and Schlacher, TA (2009) Monitoring human impacts on sandy shore ecosystems: a test of ghost crabs (Ocypode spp.) as biological indicators on an urban beach. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 152, 413–424.Google Scholar
Lucrezi, S and Schlacher, TA (2010) Impacts of off-road vehicles (ORVs) on burrow architecture of ghost crabs (Genus Ocypode) on sandy beaches. Environmental Management 45, 1352–1362.Google Scholar
Lucrezi, S and Schlacher, TA (2014) The ecology of ghost crabs – a review. Oceanography and Marine Biology 52, 201–256.Google Scholar
Lucrezi, S, Schlacher, TA and Robinson, W (2009) Human disturbance as a cause of bias in ecological indicators for sandy beaches: experimental evidence for the effects of human trampling on ghost crabs (Ocypode spp.). Ecological Indicators 9, 913–921.Google Scholar
Lucrezi, S, Schlacher, TA and Robinson, W (2010) Can storms and shore armouring exert additive effects on sandy-beach habitats and biota? Marine Freshwater Research 61, 951–962.Google Scholar
Metcalf, N (1984) The effects of habitat on the vigilance of shorebirds: is visibility important? Animal Behavior 32, 981–985.Google Scholar
Milne, LJ and Milne, MJ (1946) Notes on the behavior of the ghost crab. American Naturalist 80, 362–380.Google Scholar
Moffett, M, McLachlan, A, Winter, PE and de Ruyck, AM (1998) Impact of trampling on sandy beach macrofauna. Journal of Coastal Conservation 4, 87–90.Google Scholar
Neves, FM and Bemvenuti, CE (2006) The ghost crab Ocypode quadrata (Fabricius, 1787) as a potential indicator of anthropic impact along the Rio Grande do Sul coast, Brazil. Biological Conservation 33, 431–435.Google Scholar
Pombo, M and Turra, A (2013) Issues to be considered in counting burrows as a measure of Atlantic ghost crab populations, an important bioindicator of sandy beaches. PLoS ONE 8, 1–7.Google Scholar
Pombo, M, Campagnoli, M, Castilho-Martins, EA and Turra, A (2017) Continuous, video-recording assessment of daily activity cycle of the ghost crab Ocypode quadrata Fabricius, 1787 (Brachyura: Ocypodidae) in southeastern Brazil. Journal of Crustacean Biology 38, 133–139. doi: 10.1093/jcbiol/rux114.Google Scholar
Schlacher, TA and Lucrezi, S (2010 a) Compression of home ranges in ghost crabs on sandy beaches impacted by vehicle traffic. Marine Biology 157, 2467–2474.Google Scholar
Schlacher, TA and Lucrezi, S (2010 b) Experimental evidence that vehicle traffic changes burrow architecture and reduces population density of ghost crabs on sandy beaches. Life Environment 60, 313–320.Google Scholar
Schlacher, TA and Thompson, L (2012) Beach recreation impacts benthic invertebrates on ocean-exposed sandy shores. Biological Conservation 147, 123–132.Google Scholar
Schlacher, TA, Thompson, L and Price, S (2007) Vehicles vs conservation of invertebrates on sandy beaches: mortalities inflicted by off-road vehicles on ghost crabs. Marine Ecology 28, 354–367.Google Scholar
Schlacher, TA, De Jager, R and Nielsen, T (2011) Vegetation and ghost crabs in coastal dunes as indicators of putative stressors from tourism. Ecological Indicators 11, 284–294.Google Scholar
Schlacher, TA, Carracher, LK, Porch, N, Connolly, RM, Olds, D, Gilby, BL, Ekanayake, KB, Maslo, B and Weston, MA (2016 a) The early shorebird will catch fewer invertebrates on trampled sandy beaches. PLoS ONE 11, 1–13.Google Scholar
Schlacher, TA, Lucrezi, S, Connolly, RM, Peterson, CH, Gilby, BL, Maslo, B, Olds, AD, Walker, SJ, Leon, JX, Huijbers, CM, Weston, MA, Turra, A, Hyndes, GA, Holt, RA and Schoeman, DS (2016 b) Human threats to sandy beaches: a meta-analysis of ghost crabs illustrates global anthropogenic impacts. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 169, 56–73.Google Scholar
Schlacher, TA, Lucrezi, S, Peterson, CH, Rod, M, Olds, AD, Althaus, F, Hyndes, GA, Gilby, BL, Leon, JX, Weston, MA, Lastra, M, Williams, A, Schoeman, DS, Rod, M, Andrew, D and Glenn, A (2016 c) Estimating animal populations and body sizes from burrows: marine ecologists have their heads buried in the sand. Journal of Sea Research 112, 55–64. doi: 10.1016/j.seares.2016.04.001.Google Scholar
Silva, WT and Calado, TC (2013) Number of ghost crab burrows does not correspond to population size. Central European Journal of Biology 8, 843–847.Google Scholar
Stelling-Wood, TP, Clark, GF and Poore, AGB (2016) Responses of ghost crabs to habitat modification of urban sandy beaches. Marine Environmental Research 116, 32–40.Google Scholar
Suciu, MC, Tavares, DC, Costa, LL, Silva, MCL and Zalmon, IR (2017) Evaluation of environmental quality of sandy beaches in southeastern Brazil. Marine Pollution Bulletin 119, 133–142.Google Scholar
Turra, A, Gonçalves, MAO and Denadai, MR (2007) Spatial distribution of the ghost crab Ocypode quadrata in low-energy tide-dominated sandy beaches. Journal of Natural History 39, 2163–2177.Google Scholar
Underwood, AJ (1992) Beyond BACI – the detection of environmental impacts on poulations in the real, but variable, world. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 161, 145–178.Google Scholar
Valero-Pacheco, E, Alvarez, F, Luis, G and Escobar, M (2007) Population density and activity pattern of the ghost crab, Ocypode quadrata, in Veracruz, Mexico. Crustaceana 80, 313–325.Google Scholar