Efecto de áreas dominadas por el cangrejo cavador Chasmagnathus granulata en el uso de hábitat de peces y crustáceos macrofaunales

MELISSA MILLMAN; MIRTA TEICHBERG; PAULINA MARTINETTO; IVAN VALIELA

Groton, CT, USA

Conferencia; Sixth Biennial LIS/NEERS Research Conference; 2002

Long Island Sound/New England Estuarine Research. Society

Land-derived nitrogen impacts estuarine communities by increasing phytoplankton and macroalgae populations which alter the habitat and food web structure. We looked at the response of estuarine shrimp to different N loads by determining the abundance, species composition, growth rate and reproduction. Four estuarine shrimp species, Palaemonetes pugio, Palaemonetes vulgaris, Crangon septemspinosa and Hippolyte zostericola were collected by seining in estuaries of Waquoit Bay, Massachusetts, USA with different N loads. We found that the abundance of P. pugio was significantly higher in the higher N loaded estuaries and the species composition was dominated by P. pugio in relation lo increased N load. Growth rates of the two cohorts were found for P. pugio. The growth rate of Cohort 1 was unaffected by N loads, but cohort 2 decreased slightly. Land-derived nitrogen had no affect on the percent ovigerous females. These results suggest that P. pugio and H. zostericola may be useful indicator species for increased N loads and pristine estuarine conditions, respectively.