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Fiddler crab burrowing affects growth and production of the white mangrove (Laguncularia racemosa) in a restored Florida coastal marsh

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Abstract

Positive plant–animal interactions are important in community ecology, but relatively little attention has been paid to their effect on the production of mangroves, dominant halophytic trees in tropical coastal marshes. Here, the role of fiddler crab (Uca spp.) burrowing on the growth and production of the white mangrove, Laguncularia racemosa (<2 years old), was examined in a restored marsh in Tampa Bay, Florida (27°41.65 N, 82°30.34 W) with manipulative experiments from June 2006 to May 2007. Fiddler crab burrowing significantly increased mangrove height by 27%, trunk diameter by 25%, and leaf production by 15%, compared to mangroves in crab exclusion enclosures. Additionally, the exclusion of fiddler crabs significantly increased interstitial water salinity from 32.4 to 44.2, and decreased the oxidation–reduction potential of the low organic sediments, but did not affect soil pH or sulfide concentration. Mangrove height, trunk diameter, and leaf production along a transect that varied in crab burrow density were positively associated with the number of crab burrows. Further, the density of sympatric Spartina alterniflora shoots was positively correlated with crab burrow density along the transect. As in temperate marshes, fiddler crabs can have significant ecological effects on mangrove communities, serving as ecological engineers by modulating the amount of resources available to marsh plants, and by altering the physical, chemical, and biological state of these soft sediment communities. In restored coastal systems that typically have very poor sediment quality, techniques such as soil amendment could be used to facilitate a more natural interaction between crabs and mangroves in ecosystem development.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Richard Sullivan, manager of the Cockroach Bay Aquatic Preserve for access to the restored marsh, and Allie Wilkinson and Courtney Nosach for their generous laboratory and field assistance. Comments and discussions with everyone directly involved, and with Randy Runnels and Brandt Henningsen, were extremely helpful. We would like to thank the associate editor and anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments. This project was funded by a Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid of Research to C. Wilcox and by the Natural Sciences Summer Research Program at Eckerd College.

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  1. Christie Wilcox

    Present address: Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 651 Ilalo Street, Honolulu, HI, 96813, USA

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  1. Galbraith Marine Science Laboratory, Eckerd College, 4200 54th Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL, 33711, USA

    Nancy F. Smith, Christie Wilcox & Jeannine M. Lessmann

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  1. Nancy F. Smith
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  2. Christie Wilcox
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Correspondence to Nancy F. Smith.

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Communicated by J. P. Grassle.

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Smith, N.F., Wilcox, C. & Lessmann, J.M. Fiddler crab burrowing affects growth and production of the white mangrove (Laguncularia racemosa) in a restored Florida coastal marsh. Mar Biol 156, 2255–2266 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-009-1253-7

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