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Microhabitat differences in crab assemblage structures in a subtropical mangrove estuary on Iriomote Island, southern Japan

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Abstract

Crab assemblage structures in sandy flat, muddy flat and mangrove forest microhabitats in a mangrove estuary of the Urauchi River, Iriomote Island, southern Japan, differed clearly among the three microhabitats, species and individual numbers being greater inside the mangrove forest than on the flats. A similarity index showed distinct differences in species composition among the microhabitat assemblages, primarily due to the differential distributions of dominant species, such as the soldier crab Mictyris guinotae, sentinel crab Macrophthalmus convexus and sesarmid crab Perisesarma bidens. A canonical correspondence analysis indicated that the differences likely arose from among-microhabitat differences in the physical environment, the mangrove forest being characterized mainly by structurally complex mangrove roots, lower soil porewater temperatures and higher relative substrate elevation, the sandy flat by lower organic content of the sediment and higher porewater oxygen amount, and the muddy flat by higher levels of sediment water and organic material. The findings suggested that microhabitat-related physical differences are important factors determining crab distribution patterns in mangrove estuaries.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Ken Sakihara, Akira Mizutani and the Okinawa Regional Research Center, Tokai University for assistance with fieldwork. Our thanks are also due to Hsi-Te Shih and Tohru Naruse for crab species identification, and to Seiya Kaneko and Tomohiro Aoki for providing useful information on the data analyses. Constructive comments on the manuscript from Ken Okamoto, Shigeru Aoki, Graham Hardy and three anonymous reviewers were much appreciated. This study was founded by a Sasakawa Scientific Research Grant from The Japan Science Society (no. 28-730), a grant from the Research Institute of Marine Invertebrates (no. 2016KO-8) and a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (no. 26252027).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecosystem Studies, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Yayoi, Bunkyo, Tokyo, 113–8657, Japan

    Shun Kawaida & Mitsuhiko Sano

  2. Department of Applied Aquabiology, National Fisheries University, Nagata–Honmachi, Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi, 759–6595, Japan

    Kusuto Nanjo

  3. National Research Institute of Fisheries Science, Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency, Fukuura, Kanazawa, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 236–8648, Japan

    Takahiro Kanai

  4. Okinawa Regional Research Center, Tokai University, Uehara, Taketomi, Okinawa, 907–1541, Japan

    Hiroyoshi Kohno

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  1. Shun Kawaida
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Correspondence to Shun Kawaida.

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Kawaida, S., Nanjo, K., Kanai, T. et al. Microhabitat differences in crab assemblage structures in a subtropical mangrove estuary on Iriomote Island, southern Japan. Fish Sci 83, 1007–1017 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12562-017-1139-4

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