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Adaptations to semi-terrestrial life in embryos of East African mangrove crabs: a comparative approach

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Abstract

In this experimental study, we compared the embryonic respiration rate in air and water of six East African sesarmid species with intertidal, supratidal and arboreal habits, to highlight possible adaptations in embryonic metabolism to their different lifestyles. The embryos of all analysed crabs showed bimodal respiration, but we did not find a trend towards an enhanced embryonic oxygen uptake in air from the intertidal to the arboreal and supratidal species. However, the late-stage embryos of the most land-adapted species, Chiromantes spp., showed an enhanced metabolism when immersed in sea water that we interpreted as an adaptive recovery mechanism to cope with the storage of by-products due to marine-based metabolic pathways during long emersion periods. Thus, we showed that the embryos of land-adapted species, although still strongly water dependent, are well adapted to semi-terrestrial habitats and represent a minor limiting factor for females, which are not restricted in their emersion period by the oxygen requirements of their embryos.

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Acknowledgments

We deeply thank Dr. James G. Kairo for his fundamental support during the fieldwork at the Gazi Research Station of the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute. Funds were obtained from Italian MIUR funds (ex 60 %) and the SP3-People (Marie Curie) IRSES Project CREC (No. 247514). This study has been conducted in accordance with institutional, national and international guidelines concerning the use of animals in research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Florence, Via Madonna del Piano, 6, 50019, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy

    Riccardo Simoni, Daniele Spigoli & Stefano Cannicci

  2. Department of Integrative Ecophysiology, Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Am Handelshafen 12, 27570, Bremerhaven, Germany

    Folco Giomi & Hans-Otto Pörtner

Authors
  1. Riccardo Simoni
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  2. Folco Giomi
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  3. Daniele Spigoli
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  4. Hans-Otto Pörtner
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  5. Stefano Cannicci
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Correspondence to Riccardo Simoni.

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Communicated by M. G. Chapman.

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Simoni, R., Giomi, F., Spigoli, D. et al. Adaptations to semi-terrestrial life in embryos of East African mangrove crabs: a comparative approach. Mar Biol 160, 2483–2492 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-013-2243-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-013-2243-3

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