Fiddler crab control of cordgrass primary production in sandy sediments.

摘要: The cordgrass Spartina alterniflora Loisel is a foundation species critical to the establish- ment and maintenance of western Atlantic salt marshes. Although factors regulating growth along sheltered, fine-sediment shorelines have been exhaustively studied, less known about mechanisms that maintain production in high-energy marshes characterized by sandy substrates. We investigated whether deposit-feeding fiddler crabs Uca pugilator Bosc U. pugnax Smith can mediate local physical conditions nutrient availability stimulate primary on marsh sediments. experimentally removed from 3 × m plots an exposed, Wellfleet, Massachusetts, USA, found above- belowground biomass decreased >53% 50%, respectively, below- ground nitrogen (g N -2 ) >47% 45% crab removal compared controls. Fiddler did not measurably influence sediment edaphic parame- ters, such as redox potential or waterlogging, suggesting enhance pro- ductivity through deposition sediments thus may be component successful establishment develop shores.