Cellulose digestion abilities determine the food utilization of mangrove estuarine crabs

Abstract

Food utilization and cellulose digestion abilities of six crab species were examined to clarify the mechanisms driving trophic and spatial segregation among species within a mangrove estuary on the Urauchi River, Iriomote Island, southern Japan. Dual stable isotope signatures (δ13C and δ15N) of dominant crab species inhabiting three microhabitats (bare sandy flat, bare muddy flat and mangrove forest) showed that most crab species, such as the soldier crab Mictyris guinotae and fiddler crab Gelasimus jocelynae, primarily assimilated microphytobenthos (MPB), while the sesarmid crab Parasesarma bidens inside the mangrove forest substantially utilized cellulose-rich mangrove detritus and leaf litter. Analyses of the chemical properties of sediment organic matter indicated that it comprised mainly mangrove detritus, which was more abundant on the muddy flat and in the forest compared to the sandy flat. In contrast, the standing stocks of MPB were at consistently low levels in each microhabitat, particularly inside the mangrove forest than on the bare flats. The enzyme assay revealed that P. bidens exhibited much higher cellulase activity, enabling the species to utilize refractory mangrove materials, whereas the other crab species with lower cellulase activity were highly dependent upon nutritious and easily degradable MPB, although the amount of the latter was largely limited in the mangrove estuary. These findings suggested that the assimilation efficiency of cellulose-rich plant materials as a carbon source, dependent upon the level of cellulase activity, essentially controls trophic and spatial segregation among crab species in the mangrove estuary. Given the greater biomass of plant detritus, it is likely that P. bidens plays an integral part in establishing the detritus food chain in the mangrove ecosystem through the effective digestion/assimilation of cellulose materials.