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Advancing presence and changes in body size of brown shrimp Crangon crangon on intertidal flats in the western Dutch Wadden Sea, 1984–2018

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Abstract

Upon settlement after a pelagic larval phase, brown shrimp Crangon crangon depend on intertidal flats. During low as well as high tide the young brown shrimp play roles as predators of meiofauna and as prey for fish and birds. Unlike the biology of the commercially important adults, knowledge on these juveniles remains sketchy. Here we provide an analysis of 35 years (1984–2018) of brown shrimp monitoring in May–June on intertidal flats in the westernmost Dutch Wadden Sea. Intertidal shrimp densities were sampled bi-weekly at three stations during low tide, using sampling corers. We show that over this 35-year period the appearance of shrimp on mudflats advanced by 12 days (− 0.34 days yr−1). Simultaneously, densities on 7 May increased by more than 2.4 times, from 28 shrimp m−2 in 1984 to 69 shrimp m−2 in 2018. Across years, mean shrimp length decreased from 12.6 to 10.7 mm, but length in early May did not change. The advancement in settlement and the increasing shrimp densities correlated with increases in the seawater temperatures in April more than during earlier times of the year. We propose four interpretations of these changes: (1) shrimp settle on the mudflat when they reach a certain ‘threshold’ length, (2) settlement of shrimp is controlled by a critical period of ‘threshold’ temperature sensitivity, (3) timing of shrimp settlement is a response to food availability on mudflats or (4) a direct response to inferred predation pressure. The different interpretations will lead to different scenarios of change in a warming world.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study will become available in the Zenodo Repository (http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4792217).

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Acknowledgements

This study was part of project ‘Behoud van een dynamisch Griend’ managed by Natuurmonumenten and funded by Waddenfonds, the provinces of Fryslân, Groningen and Noord-Holland, and Rijkswaterstaat. LLG was funded by NWO grant 016.Veni.181.087. Exploratory analyses were carried out by Arjen de Boer and Lies Bosma during their BSc course in 2019 at the University of Groningen. We would like to thank all assistants who helped with collecting and sorting the Balgzand dataset. Thanks to Sonja van Leeuwen for maintaining the NIOZ jetty temperature database. We are grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their most constructive feedback.

Funding

EP was funded by Waddenfonds grant WF-223011 to a consortium of Natuurmonumenten, Royal NIOZ and University of Groningen for the restoration of Griend, the Dutch Wadden Sea provinces (Friesland, Groningen, Noord-Holland) and Rijkswaterstaat. LLG was funded by NWO grant 016.Veni.181.087.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Coastal Systems, NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, P.O. Box 59, 1790 AB, Den Burg, Texel, The Netherlands

    Emma Penning, Laura L. Govers, Rob Dekker & Theunis Piersma

  2. Conservation Ecology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES), University of Groningen, P.O. Box 11103, 9700 CC, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Emma Penning, Laura L. Govers & Theunis Piersma

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Contributions

EP, LG, TP and RD contributed to the concept and design of the study. RD conducted the data collection together with Jan Beukema and EP ran the statistical analysis. EP wrote the main sections of the manuscript supervised by TP and with input from LG and RD. All authors approved the submitted version.

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Correspondence to Emma Penning.

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This research was conducted in accordance with the Netherlands Code of Conduct for Scientific Practice. All applicable international, national, and institutional guidelines for sampling, care, and experimental use of organisms for the study have been followed.

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Penning, E., Govers, L.L., Dekker, R. et al. Advancing presence and changes in body size of brown shrimp Crangon crangon on intertidal flats in the western Dutch Wadden Sea, 1984–2018. Mar Biol 168, 160 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-021-03967-z

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