Crab Burrowing Limits Surface Litter Accumulation in a Temperate Salt Marsh: Implications for Ecosystem Functioning and Connectivity
| Autor: | Pablo D. Ribeiro, Peter M. Groffman, Stuart E. G. Findlay, Clive G. Jones, Jorge L. Gutiérrez |
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| Rok vydání: | 2017 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
Marsh INTERNAL ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONING Otras Ciencias Biológicas ECOSYSTEM EXPORT 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Ciencias Biológicas NEOHELICE GRANULATA Environmental Chemistry Organic matter Ecosystem Neohelice Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics chemistry.chemical_classification geography geography.geographical_feature_category Ecology biology 010604 marine biology & hydrobiology Plant litter Burrow biology.organism_classification ECOSYSTEM ENGINEERING chemistry Salt marsh Litter Environmental science LITTER BURIAL BURROW EXCAVATION CIENCIAS NATURALES Y EXACTAS |
| Zdroj: | Ecosystems. 21:1000-1012 |
| ISSN: | 1435-0629 1432-9840 |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s10021-017-0200-6 |
| Popis: | Burial of aboveground plant litter by animals reduces the amount available for surface transport and places it into a different environment, affecting decomposition rates and fluxes of organic matter to adjacent ecosystems. Here we show that in a Southwestern Atlantic salt marsh the burrowing crab Neohelice granulata buries aboveground plant litter at rates (0.5–8 g m−2 day−1) comparable to those of litter production (3 g m−2 day−1). Buried litter has a low probability (0.6%) of returning to the marsh surface. The formation of burrow excavation mounds on the marsh surface is responsible for most litter burial, whereas litter trapped in burrows was an order of magnitude lower than rates of burial under excavation mounds. Crab exclusion markedly increased surface litter accumulation (3.5-fold in just 21 days). Tides with the potential to transport significant amounts of surface litter are infrequent; hence, most litter is buried before it can be transported elsewhere or decomposes on the surface. Crab litter burial can account for the observed low levels of surface litter accumulation in this ecosystem and likely drives organic matter transformation and export. The impacts of ecosystem engineering by this crab species are therefore substantial and comparable in magnitude to the large effects found for tropical crabs and other litter-burying organisms, such as anecic earthworms. Fil: Gutierrez, Jorge Luis Ceferino. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies; Estados Unidos. Grupo de Investigación y Educación en Temas Ambientales (GrIETA) - Estación Biológica Las Brusquitas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Jones, Clive G.. Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies; Estados Unidos Fil: Ribeiro, Pablo Damián. Grupo de Investigación y Educación en Temas Ambientales (GrIETA) - Estación Biológica Las Brusquitas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencia Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; Argentina Fil: Findlay, Stuart E. G.. Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies; Estados Unidos Fil: Groffman, Peter M.. Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies; Estados Unidos. City University of New York; Estados Unidos |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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