Author: Jessica Espinosa
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
Book Description
The fiddler crab Uca pugnax is a semi-terrestrial estuarine crab that lives in salt marshes along the Eastern coast of North America from northern Florida to New Hampshire (Sanford et al. 2006). Uca pugnax is an important study organism because it impacts the surrounding ecosystem, as fiddler crabs can maintain Spartina growth, are a major staple in the diet of many fish species and other predators, and eat many of the meiofaunal organisms present in the surrounding Spartina. There is an interest in studying these crabs in particular because their coastal range is expanding north, and this expansion could lead to a modification in the structure of the surrounding ecosystem. The farthest north scientists previously found these crabs was in Cape Cod, MA, but in recent years climate change has caused a northern range expansion of both the species and of fiddler crabs as a whole (Sanford et al. 2006). In the northern part of Uca pugnax's range, water temperature is the limiting factor, and therefore explains the range expansion north due to the increasing global temperatures. In fiddler crabs, fat is mobilized for reproduction, and since fitness means the ability to survive and reproduce, fitness equals fatness, or body condition. It is hypothesized that latitude is correlated with Uca pugnax body condition, and that there is also some seasonal variation in body condition along the range. When four different locations along the range were sampled, no differences in body condition were found between sites. This is interesting because in the northern end of the range, adult fiddler crabs spend nearly half of the year underground, and thus have a much shorter feeding season than southern fiddler crabs. However, a significant difference was found between seasons for fall 2012 and the interaction of season and location. The number of ovigerous females was lowest in the fall throughout all locations, and a male-skewed sex ratio was seen in Georgia. These results are preliminary, but suggest that crabs in all locations share a similar body condition despite the varying global temperatures. There is also a seasonal difference, which may be more prominent at the southern end of the range.
Sex Ratio and Body Condition in Female Uca Pugnax Fiddler Crabs Along the Eastern Coast of the United States
Author: Jessica Espinosa
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
Book Description
The fiddler crab Uca pugnax is a semi-terrestrial estuarine crab that lives in salt marshes along the Eastern coast of North America from northern Florida to New Hampshire (Sanford et al. 2006). Uca pugnax is an important study organism because it impacts the surrounding ecosystem, as fiddler crabs can maintain Spartina growth, are a major staple in the diet of many fish species and other predators, and eat many of the meiofaunal organisms present in the surrounding Spartina. There is an interest in studying these crabs in particular because their coastal range is expanding north, and this expansion could lead to a modification in the structure of the surrounding ecosystem. The farthest north scientists previously found these crabs was in Cape Cod, MA, but in recent years climate change has caused a northern range expansion of both the species and of fiddler crabs as a whole (Sanford et al. 2006). In the northern part of Uca pugnax's range, water temperature is the limiting factor, and therefore explains the range expansion north due to the increasing global temperatures. In fiddler crabs, fat is mobilized for reproduction, and since fitness means the ability to survive and reproduce, fitness equals fatness, or body condition. It is hypothesized that latitude is correlated with Uca pugnax body condition, and that there is also some seasonal variation in body condition along the range. When four different locations along the range were sampled, no differences in body condition were found between sites. This is interesting because in the northern end of the range, adult fiddler crabs spend nearly half of the year underground, and thus have a much shorter feeding season than southern fiddler crabs. However, a significant difference was found between seasons for fall 2012 and the interaction of season and location. The number of ovigerous females was lowest in the fall throughout all locations, and a male-skewed sex ratio was seen in Georgia. These results are preliminary, but suggest that crabs in all locations share a similar body condition despite the varying global temperatures. There is also a seasonal difference, which may be more prominent at the southern end of the range.
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
Book Description
The fiddler crab Uca pugnax is a semi-terrestrial estuarine crab that lives in salt marshes along the Eastern coast of North America from northern Florida to New Hampshire (Sanford et al. 2006). Uca pugnax is an important study organism because it impacts the surrounding ecosystem, as fiddler crabs can maintain Spartina growth, are a major staple in the diet of many fish species and other predators, and eat many of the meiofaunal organisms present in the surrounding Spartina. There is an interest in studying these crabs in particular because their coastal range is expanding north, and this expansion could lead to a modification in the structure of the surrounding ecosystem. The farthest north scientists previously found these crabs was in Cape Cod, MA, but in recent years climate change has caused a northern range expansion of both the species and of fiddler crabs as a whole (Sanford et al. 2006). In the northern part of Uca pugnax's range, water temperature is the limiting factor, and therefore explains the range expansion north due to the increasing global temperatures. In fiddler crabs, fat is mobilized for reproduction, and since fitness means the ability to survive and reproduce, fitness equals fatness, or body condition. It is hypothesized that latitude is correlated with Uca pugnax body condition, and that there is also some seasonal variation in body condition along the range. When four different locations along the range were sampled, no differences in body condition were found between sites. This is interesting because in the northern end of the range, adult fiddler crabs spend nearly half of the year underground, and thus have a much shorter feeding season than southern fiddler crabs. However, a significant difference was found between seasons for fall 2012 and the interaction of season and location. The number of ovigerous females was lowest in the fall throughout all locations, and a male-skewed sex ratio was seen in Georgia. These results are preliminary, but suggest that crabs in all locations share a similar body condition despite the varying global temperatures. There is also a seasonal difference, which may be more prominent at the southern end of the range.
Conflict Over Male Searching in Fiddler Crabs
Author: Catherine Elaine deRivera
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 314
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 314
Book Description
The Effects of Temperature on the Timing, Form and Variability of the Wave Display in the Fiddler Crabs, Uca Minax and Uca Pugnax
Author: John Alvin Doherty
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fiddler crabs
Languages : en
Pages : 382
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fiddler crabs
Languages : en
Pages : 382
Book Description
The Effects of Sexual Selection on the Interaction of Foraging and Social Behavior in the Gulf Coast Fiddler Crab, Uca Panacea
Author: Halina Elizabeth Caravello
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fiddler crabs
Languages : en
Pages : 184
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fiddler crabs
Languages : en
Pages : 184
Book Description
Behavioral Ecology and Population Biology in Populations of of Fiddler Crabs, Uca Pugnax (Smith), on the New Jersey Coast
Author: Lauren L. Bergey
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Aquatic ecology
Languages : en
Pages : 268
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Aquatic ecology
Languages : en
Pages : 268
Book Description
Costs of Sexual Selection in the Sand Fiddler Crab, Uca Pugilator
Molecular Population Genetics of the Atlantic Sand Fiddler Crab, Uca Pugilator, Along the Atlantic Coast
Author: David Andrew Weese
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fiddler crabs
Languages : en
Pages : 63
Book Description
Author's abstract: The Atlantic sand fiddler crab, Uca pugilator, is an extremely abundant fiddler crab found along the eastern and Gulf coast of the United States. Fiddler crabs have a life cycle with an obligatory planktonic larval phase of 30-90 days, which might be expected to lead to widespread larval dispersal and consequent genetic homogeneity over considerable distances. However a large amount of morphological and behavioral variation is found between northern and southern populations along the eastern coast. This study was undertaken to determine the population genetic structure of U. pugilator and to determine whether these differences may have a genetic basis. The population structure of the fiddler crab was analyzed using 576 individuals collected from 12 sites along the eastern coast. PCR-base single stand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) was used to analyze segments of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA and the nuclear internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) genes of these individuals. The ITS1 marker did not prove to be informative when screened by SSCP for this study. The 16S marker revealed a moderate amount of population structure (FST = 0.292) between populations. The results of this study reveal frequent gene flow between nearby localities, but reduced levels between populations separated by large distances. Despite the potential for high dispersal by planktonic larvae, population differentiation and isolation by distance was found between populations U. pugilator. Northern and southern regions are separated by a genetic distance of 0.3866 suggesting the potential for morphological and behavioral differentiation across the species range. INDEX WORDS: Uca pugilator, Fiddler crab, Population structure, Gene flow, Larval dispersal, Single-stand conformational polymorphism, 16S rDNA, ITS-1.
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fiddler crabs
Languages : en
Pages : 63
Book Description
Author's abstract: The Atlantic sand fiddler crab, Uca pugilator, is an extremely abundant fiddler crab found along the eastern and Gulf coast of the United States. Fiddler crabs have a life cycle with an obligatory planktonic larval phase of 30-90 days, which might be expected to lead to widespread larval dispersal and consequent genetic homogeneity over considerable distances. However a large amount of morphological and behavioral variation is found between northern and southern populations along the eastern coast. This study was undertaken to determine the population genetic structure of U. pugilator and to determine whether these differences may have a genetic basis. The population structure of the fiddler crab was analyzed using 576 individuals collected from 12 sites along the eastern coast. PCR-base single stand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) was used to analyze segments of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA and the nuclear internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) genes of these individuals. The ITS1 marker did not prove to be informative when screened by SSCP for this study. The 16S marker revealed a moderate amount of population structure (FST = 0.292) between populations. The results of this study reveal frequent gene flow between nearby localities, but reduced levels between populations separated by large distances. Despite the potential for high dispersal by planktonic larvae, population differentiation and isolation by distance was found between populations U. pugilator. Northern and southern regions are separated by a genetic distance of 0.3866 suggesting the potential for morphological and behavioral differentiation across the species range. INDEX WORDS: Uca pugilator, Fiddler crab, Population structure, Gene flow, Larval dispersal, Single-stand conformational polymorphism, 16S rDNA, ITS-1.
Reproductive Cycles of the Fiddler Crabs Uca Pugnax (Smith, 1870) and Uca Minax (LeConte, 1855) in Cheesequake Salt Marsh, New Jersey
Author: Stephen Kresser Brown
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fiddler crabs
Languages : en
Pages : 870
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fiddler crabs
Languages : en
Pages : 870
Book Description