Can tolerances of multiple stressors and calculated safety margins in fiddler crabs predict responses to extreme environmental conditions resulting from climate change?

Capparelli, Mariana V.; McNamara, John C.; Thurman, Carl L.; Pérez-Ceballos, Rosela; Gómez-Ponce, Mario A.; Cardoso-Mohedano, José-Gilberto; Moulatlet, Gabriel M.

Can tolerances of multiple stressors and calculated safety margins in fiddler crabs predict responses to extreme environmental conditions resulting from climate change?

2022

To comprehend mangrove crab responses to predicted global climate changes, we assessed submersion and desiccation survival durations and salinity tolerances and upper thermal limits in fiddler crabs from Isla del Carmen, Yucatán Peninsula. Based on their tolerances of extreme ambient conditions, we also calculated safety margins using abiotic monitoring data. The two most terrestrial species, Minuca rapax and Leptuca panacea, exhibited submersion tolerances of from 22 to 40 h, and desiccation tolerances of from 30 to 55 h; LC₅₀'s were ≈45‰S and UT₅₀'s were ≈40 °C. The two least terrestrial species, M. vocator and L. speciosa, were less tolerant of all experimental challenges, showing submersion and desiccation tolerances of <6 h, and LC₅₀'s of 36‰S and UT₅₀'s of 38 °C. While these fiddler crabs inhabit niches closer to their salinity and desiccation/submersion tolerances than to their temperature limits, all are clearly vulnerable to the multiple stressors that accompany anticipated global climate change.

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