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Invasion dynamics on a temperate rocky shore: from early invasion to establishment of a marine invader

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An Erratum to this article was published on 17 January 2014

Abstract

Populations of invading Asian shore crabs (Hemigrapsus sanguineus) and resident crabs (European green crab Carcinus maenas or species in the family Panopeidae) were monitored for up to 12 years along a south to north orientation on the open coast of Massachusetts and within the Narragansett Bay estuary, Rhode Island. At all sites, densities of resident crabs declined as H. sanguineus increased in abundance. Population dynamics were divided into 3 stages of the invasion (early, mid, late) based on statistically different densities of invading and resident crabs. Early in the invasion on the open coast, the relatively few H. sanguineus present had a wide range of individual sizes. By late in the invasion, relatively small crabs [<10 mm carapace width (CW)] constituted half of the population. Few seasonal differences occurred. Carcinus maenas, dominant at the coastal sites early in the invasion, showed strong recruitment of small individuals in the fall early in the invasion. Overall numbers of C. maenas declined as the H. sanguineus invasion progressed, and very few crabs >10 mm CW were present late in the invasion. In Narragansett Bay, a recruitment peak of H. sanguineus occurred shortly before it surged in population size, and large crabs were abundant late in the invasion. Geographic comparisons of H. sanguineus populations in southern New England showed similar growth trajectories. Monitoring populations of resident and invading species at multiple locations from early invasion through clear establishment of the invader allows a more complete understanding of the population dynamics of marine species invasions.

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Acknowledgments

This study was partially funded by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Sea Grant project R/B-161 (2000–2002) and a grant from the QLF/Atlantic Center for the Environment (2002–2003). Mike Judge provided many hours of general discussion of the results, a critical review of the manuscript, and the Kolmogorov–Smirnov analyses. I thank Steve Cadrin for statistical advice and Drew Lohrer and George Kraemer for sharing unpublished data. Finally and most importantly, I am grateful to the very large number of former students who helped with sampling crab populations; without their labor, this project could not have been completed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, N. Dartmouth, MA, 02747, USA

    Nancy J. O’Connor

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  1. Nancy J. O’Connor
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Correspondence to Nancy J. O’Connor.

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 6, 7, 8 and 9.

Table 6 Marshfield, MA. Densities of the invader (H. sanguineus) or resident species (C. maenas)
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Table 7 Scituate, MA. Densities of the invader (H. sanguineus) or resident species (C. maenas)
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Table 8 Bristol, RI. Densities of the invader (H. sanguineus) or resident species (Panopeidae)
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Table 9 Falmouth, MA. Densities of the invader (H. sanguineus) or resident species (Panopeidae)
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O’Connor, N.J. Invasion dynamics on a temperate rocky shore: from early invasion to establishment of a marine invader. Biol Invasions 16, 73–87 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-013-0504-1

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