Abstract
The objectives of the present study are to describe and compare the brachyuran community of rocky shores within the Central Portuguese coast and to examine the zonation patterns of the most representative species. For this, randornly placed transects were surveyed to obtain crab counts according to microhabitat and intertidal level. Repeated sampling in two different shores during two different seasons provided spatial and temporal replication for zonation analyses. Seven species were registered: Pachygrapsus marmoratus, Eriphia verrucosa, Xantho incisus, Carcinus maenas, Necora puber, Pirimela denticulata and Pilumnus hirtellus. Species density rankings are the same at both localities, but the less exposed shore presents higher diversity. While most species are mainly confined to specific microhabitats in the lower level, P. marmoratus and E. verrucosa can exploit the whole intertidal range. Regardless of shore and season, E. verrucosa is more abundant in the lower intertidal levels, while no such zonation patterns were recorded for P. marmoratus. Initial predictions concerning the effect of wave exposure and temperature on the zonation of those species are not validated after analysing the factorial model proposed. Between-shore contrasts were found instead, with higher densities recorded in the more exposed locality for both species. Possible causes of the observed patterns are discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Abele, L. G., 1974. Species diversity of decapod crustaceans in marine habitats. Ecology 55: 156–161.
Alves, M. I. M., 1974. Resistência a variaçôes de salinidade apresentada por Pachygrapsus transversus (Gibbes, 1850)–Crustacea, Grapsidae. Arq. Ciên. Mar. 14: 91–93.
Bacon, M. R., 1971. Distribution and ecology of the crabs Cyclograpsus lavauxi and C. insularum in Northern New Zealand. N. Z. J. mar. freshwater Res. 5: 415–426.
Barnes, R. S. K., 1967. The osmotic behaviour of a number of grapsoid crabs with respect to their differential penetration of an estuarine system. J. exp. Biol. 47: 535–551.
Beck, M. W., 1995. Size-specific shelter limitation in stone crabs: a test of the demographic bottleneck hypothesis. Ecology 76: 968–980.
Begon, M., 1979. Investigating animal abundance. Capture-recapture for biologists. Edward Arnold Publishers, London: 97 pp.
Cannicci, S., J. Paula, M. Vannini, 1999. Activity pattern and spatial strategy in Pachygrapsus marmoratus (Decapoda: Grapsidae) from Mediterranean and Atlantic shores. Mar. Biol. 133: 429–435.
d’Udekem d’Acoz, C., 1999. Inventaire et distribution des crustacés décapodes de l’Atlantique nord-oriental, de la Méditerranée et des eaux continentales adjacentes au nord de 25°N. Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle. Service du Patrimoine Naturel, Institut d’Ecologie et de Gestion de la Biodiversité, Paris, 383 pp.
Flores, A. A. V., M. L. Negreiros-Fransozo, 1999. On the population biology of the mottled shore crab Pachygrapsus transversus (Gibbes, 1850) ( Brachyura, Grapsidae) in a subtropical area. Bull. mar. Sci. 65: 59–73.
Grant, J., J. McDonald, 1979. Desiccation tolerance of Eurypanopeus depressus (Smith) (Decapoda: Xanthidae) and the exploitation of microhabitat. Estuaries 2: 172–177.
Griffin, D. J. G., 1971. The ecological distribution of grapsid and ocypodid shore crabs (Crustacea: Brachyura) in Tasmania. J. anim. Ecol. 40: 597–621.
Gross, W. J., 1964. Trends in water and salt regulation among aquatic and amphibious crabs. Biol. Bull. 127: 447–466.
Hartnoll, R. G., 1975. The Grapsidae and Ocypodidae (Decapoda: Brachyura) of Tanzania. J. zool. Lond. 177: 305–328.
Hawkins, J. S., H. D. Jones, 1992. Marine Field Conservation Guide. 1, Rocky Shores. Immel Publishing, London: 144 pp. Hiatt, R. W., 1948. The biology of the lined shore crab Pachygrapsus crassipes Randall. Pac. Sci. 2: 135–213.
Ingle, R. W., 1980. British Crabs. British Museum (Natural History), Oxford University Press, London: 222 pp.
Jones, M. B., 1976. Limiting factors in the distribution of intertidal crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda) in the Avon-Heathcote estuary, Chritchurch. N. Z. J. mar. freshwater Res. 10: 577–87.
Jones, L. L., 1941. Osmotic regulation in several crabs of the Pacific coast of North America. J. cell. comp. Physiol. 18: 79–92.
Krebs, C. J., 1989. Ecological Methodology. Harper Collins Publishers, New York: 654 pp.
Lewis, J. R., 1964. The Ecology of Rocky Shores. The English Universities Press, London: 323 pp.
Little, C., 1990. The Terrestrial Invasion. An Ecophysiological approach to the Origins of Land Animals. Cambridge University Press: 304 pp.
Little, C., L. Smith, 1980. Vertical zonation on rocky shores in the Severn Estuary. Estuar. coast mar. Sci. 11: 651–669.
McLay, C. L., D. J. McQueen, 1995. Intertidal zonation of Cyclograpsus lavauxi H. Milne Edwards, 1853 (Brachyura: Grapsidae) along the coast of the South Island of New Zealand. Crust. Res. 24: 49–64.
Menendez, R. J., 1987. Vertical zonation of the xanthid mud crabs Panopeus obesus and Panopeus simpsoni on oyster reefs. Bull. mar. Sci. 40: 73–77.
Navarrete, S. A., J. C. Castilla, 1990. Resource partitioning between intertidal predatory crabs: interference and refuge utilization. J. exp. mar. Biol. Ecol. 143: 101–129.
Omori, K., K. Shiraishi, M. Hara, 1997. Life histories of sympatrie mud-flat crabs, H.lice japonica and H. tridens (Decapoda: Grapsidae), in a Japanese estuary. J. Crust. Biol. 17: 279–288.
Pellegrino, C. R., 1984. The role of desiccation pressures and surface area/volume relationships on seasonal zonation and size distribution of four intertidal decapod Crustacea from New Zealand: implications for adaptation to land. Crustaceana 47: 251–268.
Poole, R. W., 1974. An Introduction to Quantitative Ecology. McGraw-Hill, Inc: 532 pp.
Rafaelli, D., S. Hawkins, 1996. Intertidal Ecology. Chapman, Hall, London: 356 pp.
Schubart, C. D., R. Diesel, 1998. Osmoregulatory capacities and penetration into terrestrial habitats: a comparative study of Jamaican crabs of the genus Armases Abele, 1992 (Brachyura: Grapsidae: Sesarminae). Bull. mar. Sci. 63: 743–752.
Snelling, B., 1959. The distribution of intertidal crabs in the Brisbane River. Aust. J. mar. freshwat. Res. 10: 67–83.
Spivak, E., K. Anger, T. Luppi, C. Bas, D. Ismael, 1994. Distribution and habitat preferences of two grapsid crab species in Mar Chiquita Lagoon (Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina). Helgoländer wiss. Meeresunters. 48: 59–78.
Stephenson, T. A., A. Stephenson, 1972. Life Between Tidemarks on Rocky Shores. W. H. Freeman and Company, San Francisco: 425 pp.
Underwood, A. J., 1997. Experiments in ecology. Their logical design and interpretation using analysis of variance. Cambridge University Press, 504 pp.
Vannini, M., F. Gherardi, 1988. Studies on the pebble crab Eriphia smithi MacLeay 1838 (Xanthoidea, Menippidae): patterns of relative growth and population structure. Trop. Zool. 1: 203–216.
Wada, K., 1983. Spatial distributions and population structures in Scopimera globosa and Ilyoplax pusillus (Decapoda: Ocypodidae). Publ. Seto Mar. Biol. Lab. 27: 281–291.
Warburg, M. R., Y. Scwartz, 1989. Infra-and interspecific relationships within a crab community of the intertidal rocky shore in the Eastern Mediterranean. Proceedings of the fourth Colloquium Crustacea Decapoda Mediterranea. Bios, Macedonia, Greece l: 33–47.
Willason, S. W., 1980. Factors influencing the distribution and coexistence of Pachygrapsus crassipes and Hemigrapsus oregonensis (Decapoda: Grapsidae) in a California salt Marsh. Mar. Biol. 64: 125–133.
Zariquiey-llvarez, R., 1968. Crustâceos Decâpodos Ibéricos. Inv. Pesq. 32: 1–510.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2001 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this paper
Cite this paper
Flores, A.A.V., Paula, J. (2001). Intertidal distribution and species composition of brachyuran crabs at two rocky shores in Central Portugal. In: Paula, J.P.M., Flores, A.A.V., Fransen, C.H.J.M. (eds) Advances in Decapod Crustacean Research. Developments in Hydrobiology, vol 154. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0645-2_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0645-2_18
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-5688-7
Online ISBN: 978-94-017-0645-2
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive