Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

An age-structured population model for horseshoe crabs in the Delaware Bay area to assess harvest and egg availability for shorebirds

  • Published:
Estuaries and Coasts Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The objective of this simulation study was to create an age-structured population model for horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus) in the Delaware Bay region using best available estimates of age-specific mortality and recent harvest levels. Density dependence was incorporated using a spatial model relating egg mortality with abundance of spawning females. Combinations of annual female harvest (0, 50, 100, and 200 thousand), timing of female harvest (before or after spawning), and three levels of density-dependent egg mortality were simulated. The probability of the population increasing was high (>80%) with low and medium egg mortality and harvest less than 200 thousand females per year. Under the high egg mortality case, the probability of the population increasing was <50% regardless of harvest. Harvest occurring after spawning increased the probability of population growth. The number of eggs available to shorebirds was highest when egg mortality was lowest and female abundance was at its highest levels. Although harvest and egg mortality influenced population growth and food availability to shorebirds, sensitivity and elasticity analyses showed that early-life stage mortality, age 0 mortality in particular, was the most important parameter for population growth. Our modeling results indicate areas where further research is needed and suggest effective management will involve a combination of harvest management and actions to increase early juvenile survival.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Literature Cited

  • Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC). 1998. Interstate fishery management plan for horseshoe crab. Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, Fishery Management Report No. 32. Washington, D.C.

  • Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC). 1999. Horseshoe crab stock assessment report for peer review. Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, Stock Assessment Report No. 98-01 (Supplement). Washington, D.C.

  • Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC). 2000. Addendum I to the Fishery Management Plan for Horseshoe Crab. Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, Fishery Management Report No. 32a. Washington, D.C.

  • Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC). 2004. Horseshoe Crab 2004 Stock Assessment Report. Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC). 2000. Addendum IV to the Fishery Management Plan for Horseshoe Crab. Fishery Management Report No. 32d of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. Washington, D.C.

  • Baker, A. J., P. M. González, T. Piersma, L. J. Niles, I. de Lima Serrano do Nascimento, P. W. Atkinson, N. A. Clark, C. D. T. Minton, M. K. Peck, andG. Aarts. 2004. Rapid population decline in red knots: Fitness consequences of decreased refueling rates and late arrival in Delaware Bay.Proceedings of the Royal Society B 271:875–882.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berkson, J. andC. N. Shuster Jr. 1999. The horseshoe crab: The battle for a true multiple-use resource.Fisheries 24:6–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beverton, R. J. H. and S. J. Holt. 1957. On the dynamics of exploited fish populations. Fisheries Investigations Series II, Marine Fisheries, Great Britain Ministry of Agriculture. Fisheries and Food 19. London, U.K.

  • Botton, M. L. andR. E. Loveland. 2003. Abundance and dispersal potential of horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) larvae in the Delaware estuary.Estuaries 26:1472–1479.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Botton, M. L., R. E. Loveland, andT. R. Jacobsen. 1994. Site selection by migratory shore birds in Delaware Bay, and its relationship to beach characteristics and abundance of horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) eggs.Auk 111:605–616.

    Google Scholar 

  • Botton, M. L., R. E. Loveland, andA. Tiwari. 2003. Distribution, abundance, and survivorship of young-of-the-year in a commer-cially exploited population of horseshoe crabsLimulus polyphemus.Marine Ecology Progress Series 265:175–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Botton, M. L. andJ. W. Ropes. 1987. Populations of horseshoe crabs. Limulus polyphemus, on the northwestern Atlantic continental shelf.Fishery Bulletin 85:805–812.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brousseau, L. J., M. Sclafini, D. R. Smith, andD. B. Carter. 2004. Acoustic-tracking and radio-tracking of horseshoe cram to assess spawning behavior and subtidal habitat use in Delaware Bay.North American Journal of Fisheries Management 24:1376–1384.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carmichael, R. H., D. Rutecki, andI. Valiela. 2003. Abundance and population structure of the Atlantic horseshoe crab,Limulus polyphenus, in Pleasant Bay, Cape Cod.Marine Ecology Progress Series 246:225–239.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castro, G. andJ. P. Myers. 1993. Shorebird predation on eggs of horseshoe crabs during spring stopover on Delaware Bay.Auk 110:927–930.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caswell, H. 2001. Matrix Population Models: Construction, Analysis, and Interpretation, 2nd edition. Sinauer Associates, Inc., Sunderland, Massachusetts.

    Google Scholar 

  • Collie, J. S. andM. P. Sissenwine. 1983. Estimating population size from relative abundance data measured with error.Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 40:1871–1879.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis, M. L., J. Berkson, andM. Kelly. 2006. A production modeling approach to the assessment of horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) population in Delaware Bay.Fishery Bulletin 104:215–225.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hata, D. andJ. Berkson. 2003. Abundance of horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus) in the Delaware Bay area.Fishery Bulletin 101:933–938.

    Google Scholar 

  • Helser, T. E. andD. M. Kahn. 1999. Stock Assessment of Delaware Bay Blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) for 1999. Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife, Dover, Delaware.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hilborn, R. andC. J. Walters. 1992. Quantitative Fisheries Stock Assessment Choice, Dynamics and Uncertainty, 1st edition. chapman and Hall. New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leschen, A. S., S. P. Grady, andI. Valiela. 2006. Fecundity and spawning of Atlantic horseshoe crab,Limulus polyphemus, in Pleasant Bay, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA.Marine Ecology 27:54–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Odell J., M. E. Mather, andR. M. Muth. 2005. A biosocial approach for analyzing environmental conflicts: A case study of horseshoe crab allocation.Bioscience 55:735–748.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Penn, D. andH. J. Brockman. 1994. Nest-site selection in horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus.Biological Bulletin (Woods Hole) 187:373–384.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prager, M. H. 1994. A suite of extensions to a nonequilibrium surplus-production model.Fishery Bulletin 92:374–389.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, P. A., P. W. Atkinson, and N. A. Clark. 2003. Arrival and weight gain of Red Knots, Ruddy Turnstones, and Sanderlings staging in Delaware Bay in spring. British Trust for Ornithology Research Report No. 307, Thetford, Norfolk, U.K.

  • Rudloe, A. 1981. Aspects of the biology of juvenile horseshoe crabs.Bulletin of Marine Science 31:125–133.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shuster, Jr.,C. N. 1950. Observations on the natural history of the American horseshoe crab,Limulus polyphemus. Third report investigations of methods of improving the shellfish resources of Massachusetts No. 564:18–23. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shuster, Jr.,C. N. 1982. A pictorial review of the natural history and ecology of the horseshoe crab,Limulus polyphemus, with reference to other Limulidae, p. 1–52.In J. Bonaventura, C. Bonaventura, and S. Tesh (eds.), Physiology and Biology of Horseshoe Crabs: Studies on Normal and Environmentally Stressed Animals. Alan R. Liss, Inc., New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shuster, Jr.,C. N. andM. L. Botton. 1985. A contribution to the population biology of horseshoe crabs,Limulus polyphemus (L.), in Delaware Bay.Estuaries 8:363–372.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, D. R. andS. F. Michels. 2006. Seeing the elephant: Importance of spatial and temporal coverage in a large-scale volunteer-based program to monitor horseshoe crabs.Fisheries 31:485–491.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, D. R., M. J. Millard, andS. M. Eyler. 2006. Abundance of adult horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus) in Delaware Bay estimated from a bay-wide mark-recapture study.Fishery Bulletin 104:456–464.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, D. R. 2007. Effect of horseshoe crab spawning density on nest disturbance and exhumation of eggs: A simulation study.Estuaries and Coasts 30:287–295.

    Google Scholar 

  • Starfield, A. M. 1997. A pragmatic approach to modeling for wildlife management.Journal of Wildlife Management 61:261–270.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsipoura, N. andJ. Burger. 1999. Shorebird diet during spring migration stopover on Delaware Bay.Condor 101:635–644.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2003. Delaware Bay shorebird-horseshoe crab assessment report and peer review. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Migratory Bird Publication R9-03/02, Arlington, Virginia.

Sources of Unpublished Materials

  • Michels, S. personal communication. Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife, 3010 Bayside Drive, Dover, Delaware 19901.

  • Young, J. personal communication. U.S. Geological Survey, Leetown Science Center, 11649 Leetown Road, Kearneysville, West Virginia 25430

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Northeast Fishery Center, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, P.O. Box 75, 16848, Lamar, Pennsylvania

    John A. Sweka & Michael J. Millard

  2. Leetown Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, 11649 Leetown Road, 25403, Kearneysville, West Virginia

    David R. Smith

Authors
  1. John A. Sweka
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. David R. Smith
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Michael J. Millard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to John A. Sweka.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Sweka, J.A., Smith, D.R. & Millard, M.J. An age-structured population model for horseshoe crabs in the Delaware Bay area to assess harvest and egg availability for shorebirds. Estuaries and Coasts: JERF 30, 277–286 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02700170

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02700170

Keywords

Search

Navigation