Human influences on male waving behavior in the fiddler crab Leptuca pugilator

Abstract

ABSTRACT Fiddler crabs are numerically dominant consumers within salt marshes and understanding how their behavior is influenced by human activities can therefore shed light on the health of disturbed marsh communities. We investigated how various levels of human influence in South Carolina salt marshes alter male waving behavior in the sand fiddler crab Leptuca pugilator across 21 marsh sites. We show that male waving behavior decreases with increasing levels of human influence across these sites (i.e., car and pedestrian traffic, marsh size). Given the central role of male waving in L. pugilator reproduction, territoriality, and other intra- and interspecific interactions, our results show that human influence in salt marsh habitats has the potential to directly alter the success of this widespread marsh consumer. This study highlights the importance of studying the influence of anthropogenic disturbances on behavior of salt marsh species as human presence in coastal areas continues to grow.