Moulting synchrony in green crabs (<i>Carcinus maenas</i>) from Prince Edward Island, Canada

Poirier, Luke A.; Mohan, Joshua; Speare, Rachael; Davidson, Jeff; Quijón, Pedro A.; St‐Hilaire, Sophie

doi:10.1080/17451000.2016.1210810

Cited by 11 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Poirier et al. () and our own preliminary observations suggest that cannibalism occurs often in a variety of habitats available in Atlantic Canada.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 51%

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Effects of habitat complexity on cannibalism rates in European green crabs (Carcinus maenas Linnaeus, 1758)

et al. 2017

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The habitat in which predator–prey interactions take place may have a profound influence on the outcome of those interactions. Cannibalism is an intriguing form of predation whereby foraging by predators may contribute to the regulation of their own populations.This is particularly interesting in the case of invasive species, like the widely distributed European green crab (Carcinus maenas). This study explores how habitat complexity influences cannibalism rates in green crab populations of Prince Edward Island, Atlantic Canada. Both laboratory and field experiments were conducted to measure feeding rates by individual adult green crabs on a standard number of smaller conspecifics. In the laboratory, experimental treatments mimicked unstructured to increasingly structured habitats: water, sandy bottom, oyster shells, mussel shells, oyster shells with sandy bottom and mussel shells with sandy bottom. In those trials, adult green crabs consumed several times more juveniles on unstructured habitats than on the most structured ones, with a gradual decrease in predation rates across increasingly complex habitats. Field inclusion experiments used the same approach and were conducted in sandy bottoms, sandy bottoms with a layer of oyster shells and sandy bottoms with a layer of mussel shells. These trials showed similar patterns of decreasing feeding rates across increasingly complex habitats, but differences among treatments were not significant. These results support the idea that complex habitats have the potential to mediate predator–prey interactions, including adult–juvenile cannibalism in green crabs.

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“…Poirier et al. () and our own preliminary observations suggest that cannibalism occurs often in a variety of habitats available in Atlantic Canada.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 51%

“…Elner, 1981;Ropes, 1968) without explicit consideration of habitat influence. Poirier et al (2016) and our own preliminary observations suggest that cannibalism occurs often in a variety of habitats available in Atlantic Canada.…”

mentioning

confidence: 53%

Effects of habitat complexity on cannibalism rates in European green crabs (Carcinus maenas Linnaeus, 1758)

et al. 2017

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“…For the western Atlantic population molting in male C. maenas in Prince Edward Island, Canada, occurs in a synchronized molting window during July [181]. In New Hampshire and Massachusetts C. maenas populations, molting in males is most common during the summer whereas molting in females is most common during the fall months [113,182]. In British Columbia within the northeastern Pacific range mature and older males with new shells were found from January through November, being most common from April through July and again in September and least common in August; numbers of new shell mature and older female crabs peaked in June and July, decreased in August and peaked again in September [59].…”

Section: Moltingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life History and Population Dynamics of Green Crabs (<em>Carcinus maenas</em>)

Young¹,

Elliott²

2019

Preprint

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Carcinus maenas (the “shore crab” or “European green crab”) is a very proficient invader (considered to be one of the world’s 100 worst invaders by the IUCN) due to its phenotypic plasticity, wide temperature and salinity tolerance, and an extensive omnivorous diet. Native to Atlantic Europe, it has established two well‐studied nonindigenous populations in the northwestern Atlantic and northeastern Pacific and less‐studied populations in Australia, Argentina and South Africa. Green crabs are eurythermal and euryhaline as adults, but they are limited to temperate coastlines due to more restrictive temperature requirements for breeding and larval development. They cannot tolerate wave‐swept open shores so are found in wave‐protected sheltered bays, estuaries and harbors. Carcinus maenas has been the subject of numerous papers, with over 1000 published in the past decade. This review provides an up‐to‐date account of the current published information on the life history and population dynamics of this very important species, including genetic differentiation, habitat preferences, physical parameter tolerances, reproduction and larval development, sizes of crabs, densities of populations, sex ratios, ecosystem dynamics and ecological impacts in the various established global populations of green crabs.

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“…sites with dense eelgrass beds or clam beds, or associated with other shellfish resources). In this "moving target" sampling strategy, sites where green crabs were known to be well established (eastern side of the island; Audet et al 2003;McNiven et al 2013;Poirier et al 2016) were generally not sampled (i.e. priority was given to sites not yet invaded).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, future efforts at mitigation, as well as research, should focus on these recently invaded areas in order to properly maintain their ecological and economic integrity and function. For areas already invaded, the development of options such as a directed fishery (e.g., Poirier et al 2016) may address some of the issues discussed here. Concentrated fishing pressure on areas heavily invaded may also contribute to parallel efforts to hold or delay the further expansion of green crabs.…”

Section: Implications For Rapid Range Expansion In Productive Communimentioning

confidence: 99%

Revisiting recent history: records of occurrence and expansion of the European green crab across Prince Edward Island, Atlantic Canada

et al. 2017

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Background: Late in the 1990s, the non-indigenous European green crab (Carcinus maenas) colonized the shorelines of eastern Prince Edward Island, in Atlantic Canada. Due to concerns of further spread into productive shellfish habitats, an annual survey was conducted between 2000 and 2013 to detect a potential range expansion of this species. We compiled and analyzed that data and document green crab expansion using records of annual occurrence and relative density. Methods: Surveys were conducted during the fall season of each year by deploying baited traps at 29 sites along the island's two main shorelines (north and south shores). These sites were selected based on areas deemed more likely to be invaded by the green crab. Raw data per site and date was transformed to catch per unit effort (CPUE) to estimate relative abundances. Results: Populations of this species showed an uneven westward expansion along the north and south shores. Expansion rates changed among years but, overall, crab abundance was higher and changes in abundance were faster along the south shore than the north shore of the island. The westward expansion continues until this day. Conclusions: Based on the information compiled we hypothesize that the dissimilarity in range expansion rate was related to the availability of suitable habitat to sustain large green crab populations along the south shore. We also discuss implications of this expansion for commercial shellfish and native coastal communities.

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Moulting synchrony in green crabs (Carcinus maenas) from Prince Edward Island, Canada

Cited by 11 publications

References 15 publications

Effects of habitat complexity on cannibalism rates in European green crabs (Carcinus maenas Linnaeus, 1758)

Effects of habitat complexity on cannibalism rates in European green crabs (Carcinus maenas Linnaeus, 1758)

Life History and Population Dynamics of Green Crabs (<em>Carcinus maenas</em>)

Revisiting recent history: records of occurrence and expansion of the European green crab across Prince Edward Island, Atlantic Canada

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