Abstract
The mud fiddler crab Uca pugnax (Smith) is one of the most abundant macroinvertebrates in salt marshes on the east coast of North America. The effect of U. pugnax deposit-feeding on the abundance of meiofauna in the tall-form Spartina altemiflora (Loisel.) zone of a sheltered New England salt marsh was examined. Total removal of Uca pugnax from experimental enclosures resulted in a 10-fold increase in the abundance of nematodes and meiofaunal crustaceans and a four-fold increase in the abundance of segmented worms in comparison to experimental enclosures with U. pugnax at natural densities. U. pugnax deposit-feeding activity is also shown to oxygenate marsh sediments, but not to have a marked effect on the particle size distribution or nutrient content of marsh sediments. These results suggest that fiddler crab deposit-feeding plays an important role in regulating the abundance and distribution of meiofauna in salt marsh sediments, which far exceeds previously demonstrated effects of natant predators or burrow structures on meiofaunal abundance. Fiddler crab regulation of meiofaunal abundance may be a critical process in dictating the distribution of meiofauna in salt marsh habitats that may secondarily influence sediment decompositional processes which are directly mediated by the meiofauna.
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