Reproductive Output of Uca vocator (Herbst, 1804) (Brachyura, Ocypodidae) from Three Subtropical Mangroves in Brazil Author(s): Karine Delevati Colpo and Maria Lucia Negreiros-Fransozo Source: Crustaceana, Vol. 76, No. 1 (Jan., 2003), pp. 1-11 Published by: BRILL Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20105533 . Accessed: 07/02/2014 12:14 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . BRILL is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Crustaceana. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 186.217.7.94 on Fri, 7 Feb 2014 12:14:59 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
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Reproductive Output of Uca vocator (Herbst, 1804) (Brachyura, Ocypodidae) from ThreeSubtropical Mangroves in BrazilAuthor(s): Karine Delevati Colpo and Maria Lucia Negreiros-FransozoSource: Crustaceana, Vol. 76, No. 1 (Jan., 2003), pp. 1-11Published by: BRILLStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20105533 .
Accessed: 07/02/2014 12:14
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
.
BRILL is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Crustaceana.
http://www.jstor.org
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Mangroves are highly productive zones from which nutrients and organic matter are exported that supply consuming communities in adjacent estuarine
and coastal regions (Ottman et al., 1965; Macintosh, 1988; Robertson, 1991;
Lee, 1999; Schaeffer-Novelli, 1994). According to Schaeffer-Novelli (1994),
mangrove productivity can be evaluated by structure and maturation degree. The
deposit-feeding ocypodid crabs of the genus Uca are typical representatives of
the mangrove invertebrate fauna along the Brazilian coast. Their feeding and
burrowing activities contribute to the turnover of nutrients in those environments
(Aveline, 1980; Genoni, 1985; Macintosh, 1988).
According to Genoni (1985), food resources may constrain fiddler crab popu
lations. The food availability may regulate growth, reproductive output, and ulti
mately settlement rate and survivorship of both young and adult crabs (Christy,
1978). Their main food resource is organic matter, including the endofauna, spec
imens of which are sorted out from the substrate (Murai et al., 1982). Actual food
supply depends on the productivity of the ecosystem, microbial activity, substrate
texture, and tide action (Twilley et al., 1995; Moura et al., 1998).
Quantification of the egg production, from oog?nesis to actual fecundity, is often
used to assess reproductive potential in brachyuran crabs (e.g., Jones & Simons,
1983; Wenner et al., 1985; Hartnoll & Gould, 1988; Hines, 1989). Fecundity is
widely known to vary according to size, but the nutritional state of parental females
also plays an important role (Rabalais, 1991). The behavioural pattern and mating
system, which both vary considerably among species of fiddler crabs, may also
affect reproductive output in this group (Crane, 1975; Christy & Salmon, 1984).
The objective of this study is to assess intraspecific variability of reproductive
output, by analysing Uca vocator (Herbst, 1804) populations from three mangrove areas along the southeastern coast of Brazil, which have different productivity levels.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Study sites and crab sampling Fiddler crabs were collected in three different mangroves on the coast of
S?o Paulo State, Brazil: Itapanha? (23?49'14"S 46?09/14//W), Indai? (23?24'51"S
45?03/14//W) and Itamambuca (23?24/43//S 45?01/03//W) (fig. 1).
Samples were taken monthly at each site from August 1999 to July 2000. During
fieldwork, crabs were removed from their burrows with the aid of diving knives.
Each month, a catch effort of 15 min. by two collectors was employed at each site.
The presence of ovigerous crabs was recorded and their proportion in the samples calculated.
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calculated for each season. The organic matter content of sediment samples was
determined by ash-free dry weighing. Since there have been reports of crude oil
contamination over the study region, analyses of oil content and derived substances
were also carried out using N-hexane to separate oil from sediment.
Laboratory work
Maximum carapace width (CW) and the width of the abdomen at the anterior
margin of the 5th somite (AW) were measured with callipers (? 0.01 mm) for all
ovigerous crabs. The egg masses of all ovigerous females were removed and stored
in 70% ethanol until later analysis. Only females carrying early embryos were used
for fecundity estimates. Each clutch was immersed in a 1 : 100 freshwater solution
of 5-6% sodium hypochlorite (NaCIO) to detach the eggs from the pleopods. This
material was agitated for 5 minutes so as to completely dissociate the egg mass.
Subsamples were then obtained using a plankton splitter, from which egg counts
were obtained under a dissecting microscope.
Statistical analyses The characteristics of the mangrove vegetation were compared by the Kruskal
Wallis non-parametric procedure, complemented by Dunn's test. For each season,
the organic matter content in the sediments was compared among the three sites
using a one-way analysis of variance, complemented by the Tukey test (Sokal &
Rohlf, 1979). Median size (CW) of ovigerous crabs was compared among sites using the
Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric procedure, complemented by Dunn's test (Sokal
& Rohlf, 1979). The mean number of eggs (F) was calculated for each site and compared using
a one-way ANOVA, complemented by the Tukey test (Sokal & Rohlf, 1979).
Size-specific fecundity relationships were obtained for each population using the
number of eggs as the dependent variable, and the power function Y = aZb,
in which carapace width (CW) was the reference dimension (Somers, 1991).
The obtained equations were linearized using log10. The equations from each
population were compared using a covariance analysis complemented by the Tukey test. A significance level of 5% was used for rejection of the null hypothesis in all
statistical tests.
RESULTS
The mangrove characterization of each site is shown in table I. The amount of
organic matter found in the sediments from Itapanhau and Itamambuca was higher
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TABLE I Plant features in the mangroves studied. The results are represented in median values. A different
letter indicates a significant difference within one column (Kruskal-Wallis test, P < 0.05)
Site Density (trees/ha) Tree height (m) Tree diameter (cm)
Itapanhau Indai? Itamambuca
3750 a
9375 b 1250 a
7.01a
10.0 a
4.8 b
34.2 b 5.2 a
6.0 a
Itapanhau a B Indai?
Itamambuca
Winter Spring Summer Fall
(Jun-Aug) (Sep-Nov) (Dec-Feb) (Mar-May)
Seasons
Fig. 2. Bar graph showing average values and respective standard deviations of organic matter
contents (%) in sediments from each site. Comparisons were performed among sites within the same
season. Columns sharing the same letter in the same season do not differ significantly (P > 0.05).
(P < 0.05) than at Indai? (fig. 2). Sediments from Itapanhau presented remnants
of oil and derived substances, probably due to the contamination by crude oil that
took place in that region in 1983. There is also a significant traffic of ferry-boats, which discharge residual fuel into the river, resulting in a constant waste flow in
the environment.
The percentage of ovigerous females compared to non-ovigerous adult females
was lower than 30% throughout the study period at the three sites. Ovigerous crabs were found year-round, except in August. Breeding intensity was greater
during the months when temperature was higher (November to April) than in
other seasons (late spring and summer months). Unfortunately, a low number of
ovigerous females was found in Indai? (fig. 3).
Size frequency distributions obtained at each site show that ovigerous crabs
reach a larger size at Itamambuca (fig. 4). Their median size was also higher in that
mangrove area (P < 0.05), compared to crabs sampled at Itapanhau and Indai?
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1987; Schaeffer-Novelli & C?ntr?n-Molero, 1994) and probably reducing nutri
tional supply. This may be the case at Itapanhau, where a significant portion of the
organic matter associated with the sediments is not a suitable food resource due to
contamination by crude oil. At Indai?, the low amount of organic matter is prob
ably due to specific hydrological and sedimental characteristics, which favour the
exportation of litter. Itamambuca is a young mangrove with a high productivity and
low human disturbance, hence more favourable to sustain fiddler crab populations.
Taking into account the organic matter content in the sediment as well as other
environmental conditions, like oil pollution, food quality or availability probably differ at the studied sites. Such differences may promote different growth rates
between populations within a relative small geographic area (Hines, 1989). This
may also imply size variation at the onset of sexual maturity (Wenner et al.,
1974). At Itamambuca, where the organic matter content supposedly represents
the available food resource, fiddler crabs grow to a larger size at sexual maturity
(Colpo, 2001). The size at the beginning of reproduction and the maximum size
reached by females markedly influence the reproductive potential of individuals,
since the volume of the gonads, and thus of the brood produced, increase with
body size (Hines, 1982). Conde et al. (1989) and Conde & D?az (1992a, b)
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and fecundity under favourable nutritional conditions as compared to those in an
unfavourable habitat. As mentioned by Momot (1986) and Huner & Lindqvist
(1991), environmental conditions such as food and water quality also potentially influence egg production in the freshwater crayfish, Orconectes virilis (Hagen,
1870). The fecundity of Uca vocator in Itamambuca was higher than in the other
two populations investigated. Such contrasting reproductive output was not only due to size differences. The brood size produced by females of similar size was
also higher at Itamambuca, which indicates a higher reproductive potential in
this population. Thus, it is suggested that favourable nutritional conditions are
promoting optimal reproductive output in that population.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks are due to NEBECC co-workers for their kind help during fieldwork
and laboratory procedures. To F?lvio Freir? for drawing the map presented here.
To CNPq for a master science fellowship for the first author and to FAPESP for
financing part of the fieldtrips for the co-author (#94/4878-8; #98/03134-6).
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First received 28 February 2002.
Final version accepted 24 October 2002.
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