Factors influencing variation in reproduction in invasive species: a case study of the Asian shore crab Hemigrapsus sanguineus

Abstract

Reproductive success is a strong determinant of invasive species success. It is common for studies on invasive species to assess reproduction by measuring size-specific fecundity and scaling this up using population size or densities. Yet, reproductive success is influenced by numerous factors that are not accounted for in such calculations. We examined the influence of several factors on fecundity (clutch size) and egg size in the Asian shore crab Hemigrapsus sanguineus, including body size, spatial variation throughout the invaded range, season, fertilization success, brood loss, and diet. We show that all of these factors influence reproduction simultaneously within the invaded North American range of this species, though the relative importance of these different factors varied across sites or sampling times. Our study demonstrates that numerous factors may influence the reproductive success of invasive species and that studies that rely on fecundity measured at a single place and time, or that ignore factors such as offspring quality or brood loss, may provide a skewed picture of reproduction, and thus of potential invasive success.