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Shape matters: relevance of carapace for brachyuran crab invaders

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Abstract

The increasing trend of biological invasions is one of the most concerning threats for ecosystems functioning. The identification of optimal characters determining the invasive potential of non-native species has always been a challenge in conservation studies. Morphological features can be used as a good proxy to address the invasive success in fish species, assuming that anatomical differences in comparison to native species can provide to newcomers ecological opportunities increasing their probability to become successful. Considering this, the present study constitutes the first applicative attempt of a model based on geometric morphometrics to demonstrate the importance of the carapace shape in the invasive ability in marine decapod crustaceans. The study was performed on the native brachyuran community of Alfacs Bay, in the Ebro Delta, the largest estuarine zone along the north-western Mediterranean, in which two recently established non-native crab species coexist: Dyspanopeus sayi and Callinectes sapidus. Results suggested that invaders with extreme carapace traits located peripherally in the community morphospace, such as C. sapidus, usually possess ecological advantages contributing to understand their success. Conversely, intermediate morphologies within the morphospace, such as D. sayi, imply ecological overlapping with native species reducing their community relevance. Besides, we also assessed the effect on the community morphospace of a hypothetical future invasive event from another crab species (Portunus segnis) with high probabilities to also colonize the community. Our outcomes confirm that the morphometric approach could be an alternative tool for assessing the potential ability of invasive crab species. However, further studies at different spatial and temporal scales, including additional traits and quantitative data from invasions, would be necessary to confirm the efficacy and usefulness of the methodology.

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Acknowledgements

Authors want to acknowledge the staff of the Biological Reference Collections (CBR) of the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC) of Barcelona (Francisco J. Olivas and Ricardo Santos) for their help in the identification, separation and transferring of the samples used in the present study.

Funding

The present study is included and financed within the framework of the project CLIFISH (CTM2015-66400-C3-3-R, MINECO/FEDER), funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

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  1. Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta, 37-49, 08003, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

    Marc Farré, Antoni Lombarte, Víctor M. Tuset & Pere Abelló

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  1. Marc Farré
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  2. Antoni Lombarte
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  3. Víctor M. Tuset
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  4. Pere Abelló
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. MF and PA selected and prepared samples for the study; MF and AL performed the morphological analyses; VMT performed some of the statistical analyses; all authors interpreted data. MF and VMT wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Marc Farré.

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Farré, M., Lombarte, A., Tuset, V.M. et al. Shape matters: relevance of carapace for brachyuran crab invaders. Biol Invasions 23, 461–475 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-020-02378-3

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