URI
researcher: Invasive crabs changing ecology of Narragansett Bay
“Twenty years ago if you went to the rocky shore and turned over rocks, you would have found mostly one or two species of native crabs,” said Hobbs, a doctoral candidate at the University of Rhode Island. “But within a year of the Asian shore crab showing up in Rhode Island in 1998, if you turned over those same rocks, you’d have something like 20 or 30 Asian shore crabs.”
This dramatic change in the composition of crabs in the region may have far reaching implications for the ecology of Narragansett Bay.
Many of the native
crab species in Rhode Island are difficult to find. Some have been pushed into
deeper water, where they are preyed upon by fish and other species they seldom
encountered in the past. Others, like the spider crab, seem to be unaffected by
the invaders.
Asian shore crabs aren’t large – their shells are typically an inch or less
across – but they reproduce quickly and are more tolerant of cold and being out
of the water than the region’s native crabs.
Hobbs said that a one-meter area
that may have harbored a dozen native crabs two decades ago now harbors
hundreds of Asian shore crabs.
“They eat whatever they can get their claws on, and they reproduce like crazy, so they have a lot of mouths to feed,” Hobbs said. “But they also become food for other marine life as well.”
Lobsters are one such species for which the Asian shore crab is a double-edged sword. While the shore crabs may consume large quantities of larval lobsters, the crabs are also probably eaten in large numbers by adult lobsters.
“They eat whatever they can get their claws on, and they reproduce like crazy, so they have a lot of mouths to feed,” Hobbs said. “But they also become food for other marine life as well.”
Lobsters are one such species for which the Asian shore crab is a double-edged sword. While the shore crabs may consume large quantities of larval lobsters, the crabs are also probably eaten in large numbers by adult lobsters.
Commercially important fish, such as black sea bass, also benefit from the
availability of large quantities of Asian shore crabs.
Hobbs said the green crab, which is the second most abundant crab species on Narragansett Bay shores, is also an invasive species. But it arrived in the region in the ballast of ships about 200 years ago – long before scientists paid much attention to crabs -- so it is difficult to know how its arrival may have affected the marine environment.
“The one thing we know happened after the arrival of green crabs is that snail shells got thicker and tougher,” Hobbs said. “They were apparently really good at cracking open snail shells, so the snails evolved thicker shells.”
The focus of Hobbs’ research is on the cost of aggression among crabs of the same species – for instance, how does fighting among themselves affect how quickly they grow and mature, how likely they are to be injured or die, and other factors.
Hobbs said the green crab, which is the second most abundant crab species on Narragansett Bay shores, is also an invasive species. But it arrived in the region in the ballast of ships about 200 years ago – long before scientists paid much attention to crabs -- so it is difficult to know how its arrival may have affected the marine environment.
“The one thing we know happened after the arrival of green crabs is that snail shells got thicker and tougher,” Hobbs said. “They were apparently really good at cracking open snail shells, so the snails evolved thicker shells.”
The focus of Hobbs’ research is on the cost of aggression among crabs of the same species – for instance, how does fighting among themselves affect how quickly they grow and mature, how likely they are to be injured or die, and other factors.
So he put pairs of crabs in glass jars for what he called “crab
fight club” to observe how aggressively they behaved.
He found a great deal of variation. Spider crabs, which have the smallest claws, exhibit almost no aggression at all, whereas the rare lady crab is just the opposite.
“Those results likely correlate with how abundant they are in the wild,” explained Hobbs. “Hundreds of spider crabs can be piled up in one small area, and if they were as aggressive as lady crabs then they would just kill each other.”
What is most interesting to Hobbs is that Asian shore crabs aren’t all that aggressive. Since they don’t fight among themselves, they can rapidly build up large populations, making it difficult for native crabs to share the same habitat.
“One of the major mechanisms helping the Asian shore crab succeed is that they’re not all that aggressive to their own species,” Hobbs said. “They’re incredibly tolerant of other Asian shore crabs, allowing them to be in such abundance that they can act like a wall keeping other species from moving into an area.”
Has the invasion of Asian shore crabs and green crabs made the Narragansett Bay ecosystem unhealthy?
“I can’t say it’s a less healthy ecosystem; it’s just a different ecosystem than it would have been without them,” Hobbs said.
He found a great deal of variation. Spider crabs, which have the smallest claws, exhibit almost no aggression at all, whereas the rare lady crab is just the opposite.
“Those results likely correlate with how abundant they are in the wild,” explained Hobbs. “Hundreds of spider crabs can be piled up in one small area, and if they were as aggressive as lady crabs then they would just kill each other.”
What is most interesting to Hobbs is that Asian shore crabs aren’t all that aggressive. Since they don’t fight among themselves, they can rapidly build up large populations, making it difficult for native crabs to share the same habitat.
“One of the major mechanisms helping the Asian shore crab succeed is that they’re not all that aggressive to their own species,” Hobbs said. “They’re incredibly tolerant of other Asian shore crabs, allowing them to be in such abundance that they can act like a wall keeping other species from moving into an area.”
Has the invasion of Asian shore crabs and green crabs made the Narragansett Bay ecosystem unhealthy?
“I can’t say it’s a less healthy ecosystem; it’s just a different ecosystem than it would have been without them,” Hobbs said.
“There could be negative
ecosystem effects – in addition to outcompeting native crabs, Asian shore crabs
eat a lot of mussels, so they could be having an effect on important filter
feeders in the bay. But there is no evidence that they’ve had such an impact
that the ecosystem changes are significantly negative. So far it’s just lower
level ecological communities that have been negatively affected at this point.”
Shown above:
• URI doctoral candidate Niels-Viggo Hobbs sorts through crabs along the Rhode Island shore.
• Asian shore crabs Both images are provided courtesy of Niels-Viggo Hobbs.
Shown above:
• URI doctoral candidate Niels-Viggo Hobbs sorts through crabs along the Rhode Island shore.
• Asian shore crabs Both images are provided courtesy of Niels-Viggo Hobbs.