INTERACTIONS AMONG ALIENS: APPARENT REPLACEMENT OF ONE EXOTIC SPECIES BY ANOTHER

Abstract

Although many studies have documented the impact of invasive species on indigenous flora and fauna, few have rigorously examined interactions among invaders and the potential for one exotic species to replace another. European green crabs (Carcinus maenas), once common in rocky intertidal habitats of southern New England, have recently declined in abundance coincident with the invasion of the Asian shore crab (Hemigrapsus sanguineus). Over a four-year period in the late 1990s we documented a significant (40–90%) decline in green crab abundance and a sharp (10-fold) increase in H. sanguineus at three sites in southern New England. Small, newly recruited green crabs had a significant risk of predation when paired with larger H. sanguineus in the laboratory, and recruitment of 0-yr C. maenas was reduced by H. sanguineus as well as by larger conspecifics in field-deployed cages (via predation and cannibalism, respectively). In contrast, recruitment of 0-yr H. sanguineus was not affected by larger individuals of either crab species during the same experiments. The differential susceptibility of C. maenas and H. sanguineus recruits to predation and cannibalism likely contributed to the observed decrease in C. maenas abundance and the almost exponential increase in H. sanguineus abundance during the period of study. While the Asian shore crab is primarily restricted to rocky intertidal habitats, C. maenas is found intertidally, subtidally, and in a range of substrate types in New England. Thus, the apparent replacement of C. maenas by H. sanguineus in rocky intertidal habitats of southern New England may not ameliorate the economic and ecological impacts attributed to green crab populations in other habitats of this region. For example, field experiments indicate that predation pressure on a native bivalve species (Mytilus edulis) has not necessarily decreased with the declines of C. maenas. While H. sanguineus has weaker per capita effects than C. maenas, its densities greatly exceed those of C. maenas at present and its population-level effects are likely comparable to the past effects of C. maenas. The Carcinus–Hemigrapsus interactions documented here are relevant in other parts of the world where green crabs and grapsid crabs interact, particularly on the west coast of North America where C. maenas has recently invaded and co-occurs with two native Hemigrapsus species.