Pubblicazione scientifica

The fiddler crab, Minuca pugnax, follows Bergmann's rule

FILONE TECNOLOGICO	TEMA
economia circolare e sostenibilità

RIASSUNTO

Abstract

Bergmann's rule predicts that organisms at higher latitudes are larger than ones at lower latitudes. Here, we examine the body size pattern of the Atlantic marsh fiddler crab, Minucapugnax (formerly Uca pugnax), from salt marshes on the east coast of the United States across 12 degrees of latitude. We found that M. pugnax followed Bergmann's rule and that, on average, crab carapace width increased by 0.5 mm per degree of latitude. Minuca pugnax body size also followed the temperature–size rule with body size inversely related to mean water temperature. Because an organism's size influences its impact on an ecosystem, and M. pugnax is an ecosystem engineer that affects marsh functioning, the larger crabs at higher latitudes may have greater per‐capita impacts on salt marshes than the smaller crabs at lower latitudes.

DATA

Data di pubblicazione: 09/12/2019

AUTORI

JOHNSON DAVID SAMUEL
CROWLEY CYNTHIA
LONGMIRE KATHERINE
NELSON JAMES
WILLIAMS BETHANY
WITTYNGHAM SERINA

ENTE DI AFFERENZA

VIRGINIA INST MARINE SCIENCE WILLIAM & MARY GLOUCESTER POINT VA USA
UNIV VERMONT BURLINGTON VT USA
UNIV LOUISIANA LAFAYETTE LA USA
CSS INC FAIRFAX VA USA

RIVISTA

Ecology and Evolution, 9(24), 14489-14497

IMPACT FACTOR

2,540

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