Burrow plugging in the crab Uca uruguayensis and its synchronization with photoperiod and tides

Abstract

Field observations and laboratory experiments were performed to analyze the burrow plugging behavior of U. uruguayensis and to analyze its relation to two environmental cycles: light-dark cycle and tides. Field observations showed that burrow plugging is a rhythmic behavior synchronized with both environmental cycles such that burrows are open during those periods of simultaneous light and low tide. Laboratory experiments suggested that the plugging rhythm is under endogenous circadian control, whereas its synchronization with the tidal cycle, particularly with periodic inundation, seems to be strongly exogenous, not showing clear circatidal components. It is proposed that burrow plugging is adaptive because it allows the animals to be within an air medium, more suitable for their respiration modality, during high tide and because it prevents burrow collapse. It is also proposed that both the endogenous circadian component and the lack of an endogenous circatidal component can also be explained on the basis of adaptive value, taking into account the regular temporal structure of the solar day and the irregular temporal structure of the tidal cycle.