Author : Juliana Ventresca
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (132 download)
Book Synopsis The Reproductive Response of Petrolisthes Armatus to Cold Temperatures in Its Non-native Range by : Juliana Ventresca
Download or read book The Reproductive Response of Petrolisthes Armatus to Cold Temperatures in Its Non-native Range written by Juliana Ventresca and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The green porcelain crab (Petrolisthes armatus) is an anomuran crab that, since the mid-1990s, has expanded its range on intertidal oyster reefs from Florida to as far north as Wilmington, North Carolina, USA. Little is known about how this range expansion is occurring, although warming ocean waters may be involved, and cold winter temperatures are thought to be limiting further range expansion. One factor that could be limited by cold temperature is reproductive ability. Reproduction of this species in its non-native range does not occur year-round as it does in the native range. To test whether low temperatures affect reproductive seasonality through embryo development, hatching, or larval survival, experiments were conducted in conjunction with bi-weekly, year-round sampling of resident crab assemblages on an intertidal oyster reef in Charleston, SC. These studies document ovigery rates in relation to ambient temperature variation. Results of this study display how embryo development and hatching severely decline once temperatures reach below eighteen degrees Celsius. Additionally, larval physiology is negatively affected as water temperatures decrease, as seen through the linear relationship between larval heartrate and temperature. Results of this study are vital to forming more accurate predictions of the species’ further range expansion through the establishment of self-sustaining populations as climate change affects water temperatures.