Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T20:59:54.599Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Red crabs in rain forest, Christmas Island: removal and relocation of leaf-fall

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Dennis J. O'Dowd  and
P. S. Lake
Dennis J. O'Dowd
Affiliation:
Department of Botany and Zoology, Monash University, ClaytonVIC 3168 Australia
P. S. Lake
Affiliation:
Department of Botany and Zoology, Monash University, ClaytonVIC 3168 Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Field experiments comparing leaf-fall in the presence and absence of the red land crab, Gecarcoidea natalis, in rain forest on Christmas Island, Indian Ocean showed that, by eating and returning leaves to their burrows, they significantly reduced accumulation of leaf-fall on the forest floor. Red crabs removed 30–50% of the leaf-fall at the experimental sites during the study. Differences in leaf-fall mass between crab-access and exclusion quadrats were positively correlated with the density of foraging red crabs. Red crabs also generated spatial heterogeneity in the distribution of litter on the forest floor by returning litter to their burrows. Leaves lined chambers of 64% of excavated burrows and litter biomass around the entrances was significantly greater than that on off-burrow locations. This was reflected in the significantly higher concentrations of organic matter and nutrients (N, P, K, Ca, Na, and Mg) associated with soils near burrow entrances. These results suggest that a single species, G. natalis, is the major processor of leaf-fall in rain forest on Christmas Island and may affect (1) the temporal and spatial patterns of nutrient availability and (2) the diversity and biomass of the litter fauna.

Keywords

Christmas IslandGecarcoidea natalisIndian Oceanislandland crabsleaf-falllitternutrientsrain forest
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 5 , Issue 3 , August 1989 , pp. 337 - 348
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

Alexander, H. G. L. 1979. A preliminary assessment of the role of the terrestrial decapod crustaceans in the Aldabran ecosystem. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B. 286:241–246.Google Scholar
Allen, S. E., Grimshaw, M., Parkinson, J. A. & Quamby, C. 1974. Inorganic constituents. Pp. 121–136 in Allen, S. E. (ed.). Chemical analysis of ecological materials. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Melbourne, Australia.Google Scholar
Anderson, J. M. & Swift, M. J. 1983. Decomposition in tropical forests. Pp. 287–310 in Sutton, S. L., Whitmore, T. C. & Chadwick, A. C. (eds). Tropical rain forest: ecology and management. Special Publication Series No. 2 of the British Ecological Society. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford.Google Scholar
Anderson, J. M., Proctor, J. & Vallack, H. W. 1983. Ecological studies in four contrasting lowland rain forests in Gunung Mulu National Park, Sarawak. Journal of Ecology 71:503–527.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baillie, I. C. & Ashton, P. S. 1983. Some aspects of the nutrient cycle in mixed dipterocarp forests in Sarawak. Pp. 347–356 in Sutton, S. L., Whitmore, T. C. & Chadwick, A. C. (eds). Tropical rain forest: ecology and management. Special Publication Series No. 2 of the British Ecological Society. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford.Google Scholar
Bärlocher, F. 1980. Leaf-eating invertebrates as competitors for aquatic hyphomycetes. Oecologia 47:303–306.Google Scholar
Beattie, A. J. & Culver, D. C. 1983. The nest chemistry of two seed-dispersing ant species. Oecologia 56:99–103.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bentley, B. L., Herrera, R., Arnason, J. T., Molina Buck, J. S., Castilleja, R., Garcia Garcia, L. E., Jordan, C. F., Russell, C. E., Salati, E. & Sanhueza, E. 1982. Report of the work group on Latin American Forests. Plant and Soil 67:415–420.Google Scholar
Bertness, M. D. 1985. Fiddler crab regulation of Spartina alterniflora production on a New England salt marsh. Ecology 66:1042–1055.Google Scholar
Bliss, D. E. 1979. From sea to tree: saga of a land crab. American Zoologist 19:385–410.Google Scholar
Bliss, D. E., Van Montfrans, J., Van Montfrans, M. & Boyer, J. R. 1978. Behavior and growth of the land crab Gecarcinus lateralis (Fréminville) in southern Florida. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 160:111–152.Google Scholar
Collins, N. M. 1980. The habits and populations of terrestrial crabs (Brachyura: Gecarcinucoidea, and Grapsoidea) in the Gunung Mulu National Park, Sarawak. Zoologische Mededelingen 55:81–85.Google Scholar
Collins, N. M. 1983. Termite populations and their role in litter removal in Malaysian rain forests. Pp. 311–326 in Sutton, S. L., Whitmore, T. C. & Chadwick, A. C. (eds). Tropical rain forest: ecology and management. Special Publication Series No. 2 of the British Ecological Society. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford.Google Scholar
Coppock, D. L., Detling, J. K., Ellis, J. E. & Dyer, M. I. 1983. Plant-herbivore interactions in a North American mixed-grass prairie. Oecologia 56:1–9.Google Scholar
Darwin, C. 1859. The Origin of Species. Penguin Press, London.Google Scholar
Davey, B. G. 1984. A report on the properties of some soil samples from Christmas Island. Unpublished report to Phosphate Mining Company of Christmas Island, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.Google Scholar
Ehrhardt, J. P. & Niaussat, P. 1970. Ecologie et physiologie du brachyoure terrestre Gecarcinus planatus Stimpson (d'après les individus de l'atoll de Clipperton). Bulletin de la Société Zoologique de France 95:41–54.Google Scholar
Fimpel, E. 1975. Phänomene der Landadaptation bei terrestrischen und semiterrestrischen Brachyura der brasilianischen Küste (Malacostraca, Decapoda). Zoologische Jahrbucher Abteilung für Systematik, Okologie und Geographie der Tiere 102:173–214Google Scholar
Fittkau, E. J. & Klinge, H. 1973. On the biomass and trophic structure of the Central Amazonian rain forest ecosystem. Biotropica 5:2–14.Google Scholar
Gillison, A. N. 1976. Report on the conservation of vegetation on Christmas Island – Indian Ocean. Unpublished report to the Department of Special Minister of State, Australian Government, Canberra. 25 pages.Google Scholar
Golley, F. B. 1983. Nutrient cycling and nutrient conservation. Pp. 137–154 in Golley, F. B. (ed.). Tropical rain forest ecosystems. Ecosystems of the world 14A. Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Gong, W. K. & Ong, J. E. 1983. Litter production and decomposition in a coastal hill dipterocarp forest. Pp. 275–285 in Sutton, S. L., Whitmore, T. C. & Chadwick, A. C. (eds). Tropical rain forest: ecology and management. Special Publication Series of the British Ecological Society, No. 2. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford.Google Scholar
Gray, H. S. 1981. Christmas Island – Naturally. Christmas Island Natural History Association, Christmas Island, Indian Ocean.Google Scholar
Harper, J. L. 1977. The population biology of plants. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Henning, H. G. 1975. Ökologische, ethologische und sinnephysiologische Untersuchungen an der Land-krabbe Cardisoma guanhumi Latreille (Decapoda, Brachyura) in Nordkolumbien. Forma et function 8:253–304.Google Scholar
Herreid, C. F. 1963. Observations on the feeding behavior of Cardisoma guanhumi (Latreille) in southern Florida. Crustaceana 5:176–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herreid, C. F. & Gifford, C. A. 1963. The burrow habitat of the land crab, Cardisoma guanhumi (Latreille). Ecology 44:773–775.Google Scholar
Hicks, J. W. 1985. The breeding behaviour and migrations of the terrestrial crab Gecarcoidea natalis (Decapoda: Brachyura). Australian Journal of Zoology 33:127–142. (see accessory publication).Google Scholar
Hicks, J., Rumpff, H. & Yorkston, H. 1984. Christmas crabs. Christmas Island Natural History Association, Christmas Island, Indian Ocean.Google Scholar
Howe, H. F. & Smallwood, J. 1982. The ecology of seed dispersal. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 13:201–218CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katz, L. C. 1980. Effects of burrowing by the fiddler crab, Uca pugnax (Smith). Estuarine and Coastal Marine Sceince 11:233–237CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kitazawa, Y. 1971. Biological regionality of the soil fauna and its function in forest ecosystem types. Pp. 485–498 in Duvigneaud, P. (ed.). Productivity of forest ecosystems. Proceedings of the Brussels Symposium, UNESCO, Paris.Google Scholar
Leakey, R. J. G. & Proctor, J. 1987. Invertebrates in the litter and soil at a range of altitudes on Gunung Silam, a small ultrabasic mountain in Sabah. Journal of Tropical Ecology 3:119–129.Google Scholar
Lee, M. A. B. 1985. The dispersal of Pandanus tectorius by the land crab Cardisoma carnifex. Oikos 45:169–173.Google Scholar
Louda, S. M. & Zedler, P. H. 1985. Predation in insular plant dynamics: an experimental assessment of postdispersal fruit and seed survival, Enewetak Atoll, Marshall Islands. American Journal of Botany 72:438–445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loveday, J. 1974. Methods for analysis of irrigated soils. Technical communication no. 54. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Farnham Royal, Bucks, England.Google Scholar
Major, G. A., Dal Pont, G., Klye, J. & Newell, B. 1972. Laboratory techniques in marine chemistry. Report 51. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Organization, Cronulla, Sydney.Google Scholar
Mitchell, B. A. 1974. The forest flora of Christmas Island. Commonwealth Forestry Review 53:19–29.Google Scholar
Odum, H. T., Abbott, W., Selander, R. K., Golley, F. B. & Wilson, R. F. 1970. Estimates of chlorophyll and biomass of the Tobonuco Forest of Puerto Rico. Pp. 3–18 in Odum, H. T. & Pigeon, R. F. (eds). A tropical rain forest: a study of irradiation and ecology at El Verde, Puerto Rico. U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Washington. D.C.Google Scholar
Robertson, A. I. 1986. Leaf-burying crabs: their influence on energy flow and export from mixed mangrove forests (Rhizophora spp.) in northeastern Australia. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 102:237–247.Google Scholar
Schaik, C. P. Van. 1986. Phenological changes in a Sumatran rain forest. Journal of Tropical Ecology 2:327–347.Google Scholar
Spssx. 1986. User's guide. SPSS, Inc. McGraw-Hill, New York.Google Scholar
Warren, J. H. & Underwood, A. J. 1986. Effects of burrowing crabs on the topography of mangrove swamps in New South Wales. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 102:223–235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, T. G. & Sands, W. A. 1978. The role of termites in ecosystems. Pp. 245–292 in Brian, M. V. (ed.). Production ecology of ants and termites. International Biological Programme 13. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar