Document Type
Article
Department/Program
Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Publication Date
2019
Journal
Ecology and Evolution
Abstract
Bergmann's rule predicts that organisms at higher latitudes are larger than ones at lower latitudes. Here, we examine the body size pattern of the Atlantic marsh fiddler crab, Minuca pugnax (formerly Uca pugnax), from salt marshes on the east coast of the United States across 12 degrees of latitude. We found that M. pugnax followed Bergmann's rule and that, on average, crab carapace width increased by 0.5 mm per degree of latitude. Minuca pugnax body size also followed the temperature–size rule with body size inversely related to mean water temperature. Because an organism's size influences its impact on an ecosystem, and M. pugnax is an ecosystem engineer that affects marsh functioning, the larger crabs at higher latitudes may have greater per‐capita impacts on salt marshes than the smaller crabs at lower latitudes.
DOI
10.1002/ece3.5883
Keywords
Bergmann's rule, fiddler crab, Gulf of Maine, salt marsh, temperature–size rule, tropicalization
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Johnson, David S.; Crowley, Cynthia; Longmire, Katherine; Williams, Bethany; and Wittyngham, Serina, The fiddler crab, Minuca pugnax, follows Bergmann's rule (2019). Ecology and Evolution.
10.1002/ece3.5883
