Electronic versions

Documents

DOI

  • Noé Espinosa-Novo
    Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research
  • Luis Gimenez Noya
  • Maarten Boersma
    Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research
  • Gabriela Torres
    Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research
The Asian shore crab Hemigrapsus sanguineus has become invasive in North Europe and it co-occurs and competes with the native European shore crab Carcinus maenas. Both species develop through a feeding and dispersive larval phase characterised by several zoeal and a settling megalopa stage. Larvae of marine crabs are vulnerable to food limitation and warming has the potential to exacerbate the negative effects of food limitation on survival and growth. We quantified the combined effects of temperature and food limitation on larval performance (survival and growth) of H. sanguineus and we compared our results with those reported on performance of C. maenas larvae, under the same experimental design and methodology. Larvae from four females of H. sanguineus collected on Helgoland (North Sea) were experimentally reared from hatching to megalopa, at four temperatures (range 15–24 °C) and two food conditions (permanent vs. daily limited access to food). Larval survival of H. sanguineus was low at 15 °C and increased with temperature, in contrast to the high survival reported for C. maenas larvae in the range 15–24 °C. Food limitation reduced survival and body mass of H. sanguineus larvae at all temperatures, but without evidence of the exacerbating effect caused by high temperatures and reported for C. maenas. By contrast, high temperature (24 °C) mitigated the negative effect of food limitation on body mass on H. sanguineus larvae. Advantages of H. sanguineus over C. maenas appear especially under the increased temperatures expected from climate change.

Keywords

  • Food limitation, Growth rates, Invasive versus native crabs, Survival, Warming
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3119-3136
Number of pages18
JournalBiological Invasions
Volume25
Issue number10
Early online date8 Jun 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2023

Total downloads

No data available
View graph of relations