Author: Stephen Alfred Borgianini
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fiddler crabs
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Author: Itchika Sivaipram
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Crabs
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
All estuarine crabs have two larval stages, the zoea and the megalopa. Zoeae are entirely planktonic, whereas megalopae begin as plankton before beginning to search for settlement substrates as late stage megalopae. At both stages, crab larvae are subject to environmental conditions of the estuary. With changing environmental conditions due to anthropogenic activities and climate change, an understanding of how these planktonic larvae respond to environmental conditions is necessary for understanding subsequent larval supply to benthic populations and implication for fisheries management and habitat restoration. For this dissertation, I: 1) analyzed long-term timeseries in the lower Chesapeake Bay for spatial and temporal change in zoeal abundance and to identify the environmental drivers of these changes; 2) examined effects of climate and environmental conditions on long-term change of dominant crab zoeae in the lower Chesapeake Bay; 3) investigated how warming temperatures in the Bay affect phenology of dominant crab zoeae; and 4) conducted a field experiment in the lower Bay to characterize settlement pattern of megalopae and determine environmental predictors of settlement. Zoeal assemblages of the lower Chesapeake Bay were characterized by distinct assemblages in the tributaries versus the mainstem Bay. Zoeae of the estuarine mud crab (Rithropanopeus harrisii) and fiddler crabs (Uca minax and Uca spp.) dominated in the tributaries, whereas a more diverse assemblage of crab zoeae, including larvae of the mud crab Hexapanopeus angustifrons, pea crab Pinnixa sayana, blue crab Callinectes sapidus, squatter pea crab Tumidotheres maculatus, and fiddler crabs Uca spp. were dominant taxa in the mainstem. Salinity was the single most important factor explaining patterns in the composition of zoeal assemblages in space and time. Variability in total zoeal abundance and richness in both regions was also significantly related to salinity. Abundance of four dominant species, Callinectes sapidus, Hexapanopeus angustifrons, Dyspanopeus sayi, and Pinnixa chaetopterana, in the mainstem significantly decreased from 1985-2002, while no significant trend was observed for dominant species in the tributaries. Variability in abundance of dominant zoeae was significantly related to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), which likely influenced zoeal abundance via streamflow into the Bay. From 1968 to 2002, I found no significant effect of warming on phenology of the zoeae of dominant species, except Rhithropanopeus harrisii, which had an earlier start of season (date of 10% of highest peak of abundance) as water temperature increased. in a field experiment, settlement of C. sapidus megalopae was episodic, beginning in mid-July and extending into November. in contrast, the settlement periods of R. harrisii and D. sayi were shorter than C. sapidus, begining in early-July and ending in early October. Local conditions, especially salinity and water temperature, were as important as factors associated with transport processes (e.g., tidal range, wind direction, lunar phases) in determining settlement of crab megalopae. This dissertation illustrated that zoeal assemblages and successful settlement of megalopal stage of crabs in the lower Chesapeake Bay were sensitive to changes in environment conditions. These changes in zoeal abundance and settlement success have important implications for adult populations of estuarine crabs.

Author: Warren W. Burggren
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521306904
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 504

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Book Description
Interest in land crabs has burgeoned as biologists have increasingly focused on the evolution of terrestriality. Before the publication of this volume in 1988, there had been no single comprehensive source of information to serve biologists interested in the diverse aspects of terrestrial decapod crustacean. Biology of the Land Crabs was the first synthesis of recent and long-established findings on brachyuran and anomuran crustaceans that have evolved varying degrees of adaptation for life on land. Chapters by leading researchers take a coordinated evolutionary and comparative approach to systematics and evolution, ecology, behaviour, reproduction, growth and molting, ion and water balance, respiration and circulation, and energetics and locomotion. Each discusses how terrestrial species have become adapted from ancestral freshwater or marine forms. With its extensive bibliography and comprehensive index, including the natural history of nearly eighty species of brachyuran and anomuran crabs, Biology of the Land Crabs will continue to be an invaluable reference for researchers and advanced students.

Author: W. B. Vernberg
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642653340
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 351

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Book Description
Within recent years man has become increasingly aware of the disastrous environmental changes that he has introduced, and therefore society is now more concerned about understanding the adaptations organisms have evolved in order to survive and flourish in their environment. Because much of the information pertaining to this subject is scattered in various journals or special symposia proceedings, our purpose in writing this book is to bring together in a college-and graduate-student text the principal concepts of the environmental physiology of the animals that inhabit one of the major realms of the earth, the sea. Our book is not meant to be a definitive treatise on the physiological adap tation of the animals that inhabit the marine environment. Instead, we have tried to highlight some of the physiological mechanisms through which these animals have been able to meet the challenges of their environment. We have not written this book for anyone particular scientific discipline; rather, we hope that it will have an interdisciplinary appeal. It is meant to be both a reference text and a text for teaching senior undergraduate and graduate courses in marine biology, physiological ecology of marine animals, and envi ronmental physiology of marine animals.

Author: Patricia Anne O'Leary
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Blue crab
Languages : en
Pages : 133

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Book Description
Herein, I have completed several experiments which encompass developing fiddler crabs as a model system, as well as sentinel and temperature studies to investigate biotic and abiotic factors in parasite transmission. My studies show which factors prevent, delay, or accelerate transmission and progression of H. perezi. The fiddler crab experiments by chapter are as follows: Chapter 1. I screened adult and juvenile fiddler crab populations for naturally occurring H. perezi infections at endemic and non-endemic sites. No natural infections were found in the adult or juvenile populations (Chapter 1 and 3). I completed inoculation trials with U. minax, U. pugnax, and U. pugilator, demonstrating that the parasite can survive and replicate in these species. Fiddler crabs can live for several months with patent infections. For example, I successfully transferred H. perezi from blue crab to fiddler crab and back to blue crab. Through serial inoculations I was able to serially maintain the parasite in the lab year-round. Building on the above experiments, I completed minimum dose studies which showed that a minimum inoculum of 1,000 parasite cells was required for patent infections. Additionally, I evaluated parasite progression through studies using Uca minax. These studies which used an inoculum in the ameboid trophont and clump colony stages showed that H. perezi progresses through its life-history stages in fiddler crabs as it would in blue crabs, with the filamentous trophont stage first observed in the hemolymphs smears followed by the ameboid trophont stage. Chapter 2. Intertidal environments are well known as areas of environmental extremes, and accordingly the animals that reside there have adapted to those conditions out of necessity. One abiotic factor that can have large diel variation is temperature. to address the impact of temperature variation of the marsh and subtidal habitat on H. perezi, I developed laboratory temperature experiments with nascent infections (7 °C, 15°C, 20°C, 25°C, 30°C), with patent infections (10°C, 15°C, 20°C, 30°C), and a progression series over fine scale (15°C, 17°C, 19°C, 20°C) temperature increments. These studies demonstrated that growth of the parasite is limited at the higher and lower temperatures, and that H. perezi is eliminated from the host at 30°C. This was confirmed by hemolymph smears, histology, and PCR. Chapter 3. The successful laboratory inoculations and lack of infections in fiddler crabs from endemic areas led to additional field deployments. These experiments aimed to address the dissonance of the initial results. My sentinel studies included fiddler crabs deployed in a crab pot from a pier touching bottom, deployed from the pier approximately mid-tidal height, deployed mid-marsh in mesh cages without access to bury, and deployed mid-marsh with access to bury. Fiddler crabs can obtain H. perezi infections in the marsh when caged without access to bury or when fully or partially submerged from a pier. However, they do not obtain H. perezi infections when given access to bury. Natural behaviors, such as burying along with elevated marsh temperatures likely prevent the establishment of H. perezi in the natural fiddler crab population.

Author: Lawrence G. Abele
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 60

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Author: Bozzano G Luisa
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 0323139051
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 504

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Book Description
The Biology of Crustacea, Volume 3: Neurobiology: Structure and Function focuses on fundamental aspects of crustacean neurobiology, from the organization of the central nervous system (CNS) and neuromuscular systems to synapses and neurotransmitters, nerve and muscle, hormones and neurosecretion, photoreception, chemoreception and thermoreception, and mechanoreception. It also looks at systematics, phylogeny, biogeography, embryology, genetics, ecology, behavior, pathobiology, comparative morphology, growth, and sex determination of crustaceans. Organized into nine chapters, this volume begins with an overview of the crustacean CNS, with emphasis on neural organization of the brain as well as neural organization in the optic lobes and in the thoracic and abdominal ganglia. It then discusses the organization and components of neuromuscular systems, mechanisms of release of neurotransmitters at synapses, morphology and excitation-contraction coupling in muscle, and development of nerve, muscle, neuromuscular synapses, and neural circuits. It explains the neural control of neurosecretion in crustaceans, anatomy of photoreceptors and accessory structures in the compound eye, and chemosensory organization. The book concludes with a chapter on crustacean mechanoreceptors and their evolution. This book will be of interest to zoologists, paleontologists, ecologists, physiologists, endocrinologists, morphologists, pathologists, biologists, and other scientists engaged in basic or applied research on various aspects of crustacean biology.

Author: Armand Kuris
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 9789061910985
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 442

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Book Description
This title discusses egg formation, release, and development, variations in life history patterns, population, and fisheries aspects regarding crustaceans.

Author: Frank Truesdale
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1000162524
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 484

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Book Description
The papers in this volume take several forms, from strict chronologies to detailed historical analyses. Topics covered include: towards the history of pre-Linnean carcinology in Brazil; the beginning of Portugese carcinology; from Oviedo to Rathbun; the development of brachturan crab tascononry in the Neotropics (1535-1937); studies on decapod crustaceans of the Pacific Coast of the United States and Canada; women's contributions to carcinology; reflections on crab research in North America since 1758; carcinology in classical Japanese work.

Author: Guido Chelazzi
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9780306429309
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 546

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Book Description
The NATO Advanced Research Workshop on "Behavioural Adaptation to Intertidal Life" held in Castiglioncello, Italy (May, 1987) was attended by 50 participants, most of whom presented requested lectures. It was perhaps the first time that specialists of various animal groups, from cnidarians to birds, were able to meet and discuss the importance of behavioural adaptation to this peculiar, sometimes very harsh environment. But the taxonomic barrier is not the only one which the meeting attemped to over come. Lately, the research on intertidal biology has spread from pure taxonomy and static analysis of community structure to such dynamic aspects as intra- and interspecific relationships, and physiological mechanisms aimed at avoiding stress and exploitation of limited-resources. This increasing interest stems not only from an inclination for this particular ecological system and some of its typical inhabitants, but also from the realization that rocky and sandy shore communities are suitable models for testing and improving some global theories of evolutionary biology, behavioural ecology and sociobiology. The number of eco-physiological and eco-ethological problems emerging from the study of intertidal animals is fascinatingly large and a complete understanding of this environment cannot be reached using a strictly "reductionistic" or a pure "holistic" approach.