Anthropogenic and biological sound effects on the maternal care behavior of a key crab species

SAL MOYANO MP; CERAULO M.; LUPPI T.; GAVIO M. A.; BUSCAINO G.

FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE

Frontiers Media SA

Año: 2023 vol. 10

2296-7745

Introduction: Maternal care in marine decapods involves eggs caring in the broodcompartment until the larvae hatch. This behavior mainly allows embryo massoxygen supply, ensuring healthy embryonic development. The present studyaimed to analyze the effect of different sound sources (anthropogenic andbiologic) and their temporal patterns (low and high rate: 1 min of the soundstimulus + 5 min of silence and 1 min of the sound stimulus + 1 min of silence,respectively) on the maternal care of the key crab species, Neohelice granulata.Methods: In the laboratory, three acoustic stimuli were played back: an artificialwhite noise (10 Hz – 20 kHz), and two sounds obtained from the crabs´ naturalhabitat, motorboat passages and biological signals from a crabs’ predator fish.Three behavioral variables were quantified: still position, and two maternal carebehaviors: abdominal flapping and chelae probing.Results: Results demonstrated that the high rate anthropogenic stimuli, white noiseand motorboat, affected all behavioral variables, increasing the still position anddiminishing the maternal care behaviors. Otherwise, the predatory stimulus did notaffect the still position although diminished the maternal care behaviors (high rate).Discussion: The different behavioral response depending on the sound stimuli mayindicate that crabs distinguish sound sources. The anthropogenic noise issuggested to cause distraction that is linked to the increased still position, whilethe predator stimulus would be associated with an alert behavior not affecting thelocomotion behavior. The sound stimuli effect on the maternal care behaviorrevealed a negative effect that potentially could affect offspring survival. This isimportant considering the ecosystem engineering function of the studied key crabspecies. The reduction of the noise emission pattern rate is suggested as amitigation action to diminish sound impact effects in the crab’s natural habitat.The study contributes the first to assessing the effect of different sound sources onthe maternal care behavior of a crustacean species.