Crab-driven processing does not explain leaf litter-deposition in mangrove crab burrows,Ecology and Evolution

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Crab-driven processing does not explain leaf litter-deposition in mangrove crab burrows
Ecology and Evolution ( IF 2.3 ) Pub Date : 2021-06-08 , DOI: 10.1002/ece3.7718
Sophie J. Forgeron _{1,

2} , Aline F. Quadros ₁ , Martin Zimmer _{1,

3}

Affiliation

Many mangrove crab species drag freshly fallen leaf litter into their burrows and store it there for some time prior to consumption. Potential explanations for this behavior include (a) avoidance of competition for a scarce resource, (b) prevention of removal of a scarce resource upon tidal outwelling, or (c) processing of an initially unpalatable food source, be it physically through leaching, through the activity of the sediment microbiota, or driven by the activity of the crab itself. To test the latter, we study the effect of burying mangrove leaf litter on two relevant physicochemical litter characteristics and on its digestibility to crabs in a laboratory experiment, using artificial substratum with low microbial activity. Freshly fallen leaves of two common mangrove species, Bruguiera gymnorhiza and Ceriops tagal, were left for two weeks either inside burrows used by Neosamartium asiaticum (Sesarmidae), or on top of the substratum, before they were offered to the crabs as food. Leaf toughness and total phenolic content differed significantly between mangrove species. Upon two weeks of decay, phenolic content of both leaf litter species and toughness of B. gymnorhiza changed significantly. However, neither litter characteristcs nor assimilation efficiency differed between treatments. We conclude that storing mangrove leaf litter in crab burrows in a microbe-poor environment does not affect litter digestibility. Hence, crabs themselves do not contribute to litter processing during storage inside the burrow. If it is litter processing, rather than the avoidance of competition or litter removal by tides, that renders the storage of litter inside the burrow advantageous, it will be microbial activity that drives this process. Further studies should explicitly focus on processing through the activity of the sediment microbiota.

中文翻译：

螃蟹驱动的加工不能解释红树林螃蟹洞穴中的落叶沉积

许多红树林蟹将新鲜落下的落叶拖入它们的洞穴中，并在食用前在那里存放一段时间。这种行为的潜在解释包括 (a) 避免对稀缺资源的竞争，(b) 防止在潮汐外涌时移除稀有资源，或 (c) 处理最初令人不快的食物来源，无论是物理上通过浸出，通过沉积物微生物群的活动，或由螃蟹本身的活动驱动。为了测试后者，我们在实验室实验中使用微生物活性低的人工培养基研究了掩埋红树林凋落物对两种相关理化凋落物特征及其对螃蟹消化率的影响。两种常见红树树种的新鲜落叶Bruguieragymnorhiza和Ceriops tagal，在它们被提供给螃蟹作为食物之前，要么在Neosamartium asiaticum (Sesarmidae)使用的洞穴内，要么在基质的顶部放置两周。红树树种之间的叶韧度和总酚含量显着不同。一旦2周衰变，既凋落叶物种的酚含量和韧性的B.榄发生了显着变化。然而，处理之间的凋落物特征和同化效率均无差异。我们得出的结论是，在微生物贫乏的环境中将红树林落叶储存在螃蟹洞穴中不会影响凋落物的消化率。因此，螃蟹本身在洞穴内储存期间不会对垃圾处理做出贡献。如果是垃圾处理，而不是避免竞争或潮汐清除垃圾，使洞穴内的垃圾储存变得有利，那么推动这一过程的将是微生物活动。进一步的研究应明确关注通过沉积物微生物群的活动进行加工。

更新日期：2021-07-06

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