Seasonal and latitudinal variations in the energy reserves of the mud fiddler crab Uca pugnax: implications for the response to climate change

RJ Brodie,KA Reinsel,B Roberts,JM Welch,JI Espinosa,SA Borgianini,K Heilman

doi:10.3354/ab00683

Abstract

Seasonal and latitudinal variations in the energy reserves of the mud fiddler crab Uca pugnax: implications for the response to climate change

Highlights

The surface of the world’s oceans has warmed at a rate of 0.1°C decade−1 since 1971 (IPCC 2014), a pace of change that poses significant physiological challenges to marine life
Between 24 June 2012 and 28 July 2013, a total of 383 female and 398 male crabs were collected from 6 sites between the latitudes of 41.7615° N and 32.0139° N along the Uca pugnax range (Table 1) and assessed for hepatosomatic index (HSI), body mass, and reproductive variables
There was a highly significant interaction between season and latitude for HSI in males, similar to what tions in body mass compared to conspecifics in MA. we found in females (p < 0.001; Table 3, Fig. 3)

Summary

Introduction

The surface of the world’s oceans has warmed at a rate of 0.1°C decade−1 since 1971 (IPCC 2014), a pace of change that poses significant physiological challenges to marine life. We examined latitudinal trends in energy reserves in the fiddler crab Uca pugnax to inform our understanding of how this species might respond to climate warming, especially in the northern part of its range. In 2012−2013 when the present study took place, U. pugnax was thought to have a species range extending from Massachusetts to northern Florida, USA (Miller & Vernberg 1968, Barnwell & Thurman 1984). In 2014 it was recognized that U. pugnax had undergone a range shift when adult crabs were found for the first time in the salt marshes of New Hampshire, 80 km north of the previously known northern range limit (Johnson 2014). In 2016, small populations (

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Conclusion