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Effects of Land Crabs on Leaf Litter Distributions and Accumulations in a Mainland Tropical Rain Forest 1
dc.contributor.authorSherman, Peter M.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2010-06-01T20:07:33Z
dc.date.available2010-06-01T20:07:33Z
dc.date.issued2003-09en_US
dc.identifier.citationSherman, Peter M. (2003). "Effects of Land Crabs on Leaf Litter Distributions and Accumulations in a Mainland Tropical Rain Forest 1 ." Biotropica 35(3): 365-374. <http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/73250>en_US
dc.identifier.issn0006-3606en_US
dc.identifier.issn1744-7429en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/73250
dc.description.abstractThe effect of the fossorial land crab Gecarcinus quadratus (Gecarcinidae) on patterns of accumulation and distribution of leaf litter was studied for two years in the coastal primary forests of Costa Rica's Corcovado National Park. Within this mainland forest, G, quadratus achieve densities up to 6 crabs/m 2 in populations extending along the Park's Pacific coastline and inland for ca 600 m. Crabs selectively forage for fallen leaf litter and relocate what they collect to burrow chambers that extend from 15 to 150 cm deep ( N = 44), averaging (±SE) 48.9 ± 3.0 cm. Preference trials suggested that leaf choice by crabs may be species-specific. Excavated crab burrows revealed maximum leaf collections of 11.75 g dry mass– 2.5 times more leaf litter than collected by square-meter leaf fall traps over several seven-day sampling periods. Additionally, experimental crab exclosures (25 m 2 ) were established using a repeated measures randomized block design to test for changes in leaf litter as a function of reduced crab density. Exclosures accumulated significantly more (5.6 ± 3.9 times) leaf litter than did control treatments during the wet, but not the dry, seasons over this two-year study. Such extensive litter relocation by land crabs may affect profiles of soil organic carbon, rooting, and seedling distributions.en_US
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dc.publisherBlackwell Publishing Ltden_US
dc.rights2003 The Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation Inc.en_US
dc.subject.otherCorcovado National Parken_US
dc.subject.otherCosta Ricaen_US
dc.subject.otherGecarcinidaeen_US
dc.subject.otherGecarcinus Quadratusen_US
dc.subject.otherLand Crabsen_US
dc.subject.otherLeaf Litter Distributionsen_US
dc.subject.otherMainland Coastal Ecosystemsen_US
dc.subject.otherNeotropical Rain Foresten_US
dc.titleEffects of Land Crabs on Leaf Litter Distributions and Accumulations in a Mainland Tropical Rain Forest 1en_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
dc.subject.hlbsecondlevelEcology and Evolutionary Biologyen_US
dc.subject.hlbtoplevelScienceen_US
dc.description.peerreviewedPeer Revieweden_US
dc.contributor.affiliationumSchool of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104, U.S.A.en_US
dc.description.bitstreamurlhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73250/1/j.1744-7429.2003.tb00590.x.pdf
dc.identifier.doi10.1111/j.1744-7429.2003.tb00590.xen_US
dc.identifier.sourceBiotropicaen_US
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dc.owningcollnameInterdisciplinary and Peer-Reviewed


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