Edging along a Warming Coast: A Range Extension for a Common Sandy Beach Crab

Abstract

Determining the position of range edges is the first step in developing an understanding of the ecological and evolutionary dynamics in play as species’ ranges shift in response to climate change. Here, we study the leading (poleward) range edge of Ocypode cordimanus, a ghost crab that is common along the central to northern east coast of Australia. Our study establishes the poleward range edge of adults of this species to be at Merimbula (36.90°S, 149.93°E), 270 km (along the coast) south of the previous southernmost museum record. We also establish that dispersal of pelagic larvae results in recruitment to beaches 248 km (along the coast; 0.9° of latitude) beyond the adult range edge we have documented here. Although we cannot conclusively demonstrate that the leading range edge for this species has moved polewards in response to climate change, this range edge does fall within a “hotspot” of ocean warming, where surface isotherms are moving southwards along the coast at 20–50 km.decade-1; coastal air temperatures in the region are also warming. If these patterns persist, future range extensions could be anticipated. On the basis of their ecology, allied with their occupancy of ocean beaches, which are home to taxa that are particularly amenable to climate-change studies, we propose that ghost crabs like O. cordimanus represent ideal model organisms with which to study ecological and evolutionary processes associated with climate change. The fact that “hotspots” of ocean warming on four other continents correspond with poleward range edges of ghost crab species suggests that results of hypothesis tests could be generalized, yielding excellent opportunities to rapidly progress knowledge in this field.

The role of pioneers as indicators of biogeographic range expansion caused by global change in southern African coastal waters

“…Coastal 'squeeze' may also be an issue and has been shown to be a threat to rocky shore fauna elsewhere in the world (Jackson and McIlvenny 2011). In contrast, sandy beach biota appear to be more resistant to climate change although some species are showing signs of distributional changes linked to this influence (Schoeman et al 2015).…”

Range extension of a euryhaline crab, Varuna litterata (Fabricius, 1798) (Brachyura: Varunidae), in a climate change hot-spot

“…Climate-driven strengthening of the EAC could also be driving the southwards range extension of V. litterata into NSW, similar to the range expansion of the sandy beach ghost crab (Ocypode cordimana Latreille, 1818) in southeastern Australia (Schoeman et al, 2015).…”

Proteomic Response to Rising Temperature in the Marine Cyanobacterium Synechococcus Grown in Different Nitrogen Sources

“…Despite considerable progress in understanding the response of Synechococcus to temperature (Ludwig and Bryant, 2012; Mackey et al, 2013; Varkey et al, 2016) or to different N sources (Moore et al, 2002; Ludwig and Bryant, 2012), little is known about the ocean warming effect on the growth of Synechococcus under different N conditions. It is predicted that the temperature of global ocean surface will increase 3°C on average at the end of this century due to the increasing anthropogenic activities (Albright and Mason, 2013; Schoeman et al, 2015), which will result in an increase of 14% in cell number for Synechococcus in the ocean (Flombaum et al, 2013). This implies that ocean warming promotes the cell growth of Synechococcus under different N regimes but the mechanism is not clear.…”