Sedimentary and functional evaluation of chimney burrows in the fiddler crab Uca thayeri (Ocypodidae)

• Grant number: 11/23611-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2012
• End date: May 31, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Tânia Marcia Costa
• Grantee: Juan Carlos Farias Pardo
• Host Institution: Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus Experimental do Litoral Paulista. São Vicente , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The cosmopolitan genus Uca, popularly known as fiddler crab or flame-tide, has a wide spatial distribution and high density at the surface of mangrove sediment; some of them build burrows associated with sedimentary structures, like Uca thayeri, that architect chimneys with the possible function to maintain the environment of the burrow. The objective of this project is to evaluate if the effect of Uca thayeri bioturbation in the organic vertical composition of sediment is reflected in the sedimentary structures. To test these hypotheses, experiments will be realized in the field and laboratory, with an evaluation of the burrow and chimney morphology; to test the chimney function, will be evaluated in the field parameters such as temperature, salinity, pH, redox potential, and humidity within the burrows, and in the laboratory, will be compared this function between individuals of different sex. The results obtained in both experiments will be tested for normality with the Shapiro-Wilk test and equality of variances with Levene, and in the case of homoscedastic, will be used the parametric t-Student test and in the case of non-normal data and heteroscedastic, will be used the nonparametric Mann-Whitney test.(AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

PARDO, JUAN C. F.; STEFANELLI-SILVA, GABRIEL; CHRISTY, JOHN H.; COSTA, TANIA M.. Fiddler crabs and their above-ground sedimentary structures: a review. JOURNAL OF ETHOLOGY, v. 38, n. 2, p. 137-154, MAY 2020. (11/23611-0, 10/09763-9)

NATALIO, LUIS F.; PARDO, JUAN C. F.; MACHADO, GLAUCO B. O.; FORTUNA, MONIQUE D.; GALLO, DEBORAH G.; COSTA, TANIA M.. Potential effect of fiddler crabs on organic matter distribution: A combined laboratory and field experimental approach. ESTUARINE COASTAL AND SHELF SCIENCE, v. 184, p. 158-165, JAN 5 2017. (12/00210-2, 10/01252-5, 10/09763-9, 11/23611-0)