Temperature influences the reproduction of fiddler crabs at the southern edge of their distribution

Abstract

Understanding the spatial patterns of reproductive biology might provide predictions about fitness and population stability in different locations within the geographical range of a particular species. Leptuca uruguayensis is a fiddler crab that breeds year round in tropical estuaries but only in summer months in temperate salt marshes. In this study, we examined several reproductive attributes of the southernmost population of L. uruguayensis, including the proportion of ovigerous females, the proportion of surface‐active crabs, the developmental status of the gonads and hepatopancreas, and the fullness of seminal receptacles, and related them to environmental factors such as temperature, photoperiod, and sediment organic matter content. We found that temperature was the environmental factor that was most correlated with the reproductive process of the southernmost fiddler crab, since this environmental factor was related to ovarian development, to the fullness of seminal receptacles, and to the hepatosomatic index. At the southern edge of its distribution, the low temperatures of winter restricted reproduction in L. uruguayensis. These winter temperatures might represent the lower limit of the thermal window of this fiddler crab, limiting its extension toward higher latitudes.

Insights into Environmental Drivers on the Reproductive Cycle of Diopatra neapolitana (Polychaeta: Onuphidae)

“…This is evidenced by a large number of recent papers that highlight the relationship between reproductive biology and stock sustainability [ 24 , 25 , 26 ]. Beyond that, knowledge of environmental drivers of the reproductive biology of species is increasingly required in the context of climate change to predict how alterations in the reproduction patterns related to temperature may affect the distribution of the species [ 27 , 28 ].…”

Temporal variations in the air, soil, and fiddler crab (Austruca perplexa) burrow temperatures in southern Thailand

“…Among these environmental constraints, temperature is the most important since it affects their behaviour, physiology, growth, and reproduction (Weinstein 1998;Ruscoe et al 2004;Resgalla et al 2007;Allen et al 2012). In the case of fiddler crabs, very high or very low temperature affects their metabolic rates, heart rates, haemolymph osmolality, muscle hydration, ovarian development, and egg hatching success (Vernberg and Vernberg 1966;Eshky et al 1995;Matsumasa and Murai 2005;Colpo and López-Greco 2017;Principe et al 2018;Chou et al 2019). They have developed several physiological, morphological, and behavioural adaptations for dealing with the very high or low temperature (Eshky et al 1995;Thurman 1998;Yoder et al 2005;Levinton et al 2015;da Silva Vianna et al 2020).…”

All or nothing: Switch to high current reproductive investment under risk of starvation in male kelp crab

“…Environmental factors, such as temperature, photoperiod, or availability of food, are known to influence a variety of reproductive attributes of invertebrates in general and crustacean species in particular. These include life history traits such as size at maturity, number of broods, fecundity and size of eggs, as well as key reproductive processes like ovarian development and synthesis of vitellogenin (Brante, Fernández, Eckerle, Mark, & Pörtner, 2003; Burmeister & Sainte‐Marie, 2010; Colpo & López Greco, 2017; Fischer & Thatje, 2008; Fischer, Thatje, & Brey, 2009; Thatje & Hall, 2016; Thongda, Chung, Tsutsui, Zmora, & Katenta, 2015). In these studies, environmental variability has been associated with seasonal and latitudinal fluctuations.…”