Recreational impacts on the distribution of ghost crabs Ocypode quadrata fab. Article

Steiner, AJ, Leatherman, SP. (1981). Recreational impacts on the distribution of ghost crabs Ocypode quadrata fab. . Biological Conservation, 20(2), 111-122. 10.1016/0006-3207(81)90022-7

cited authors

  • Steiner, AJ; Leatherman, SP

abstract

  • Studies were conducted at Assateague Island, Maryland-Virginia, to determine the relative number of ghost crabs Ocypode quadrata Fab. on beaches subject to different recreational uses. The mean density of crabs per 0·1 ha plots was found to be 10 on an undisturbed beach, 19 on a pedestrian-impacted beach, 1 on a light off-road vehicle (ORV)-and pedestrian-impacted beach, and 0·3 in a heavy ORV-use beach. ORVs could be adversely affecting the crabs directly by crushing or burying them or indirectly by interfering with their reproductive cycle or altering their environment. Vehicular disturbance probably results in fewer crabs or no reproduction at all, with new inhabitants migrating from undisturbed areas. Pedestrians appear to have no harmful effects on ghost crabs; instead the crabs may be capitalising on the food scraps scattered across the beach by bathers. © 1981.

authors

publication date

  • January 1, 1981

published in

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

start page

  • 111

end page

  • 122

volume

  • 20

issue

  • 2