Dataset Information

Microplastics disrupt hermit crab shell selection.

ABSTRACT: Microplastics (plastics < 5 mm) are a potential threat to marine biodiversity. However, the effects of microplastic pollution on animal behaviour and cognition are poorly understood. We used shell selection in common European hermit crabs (Pagurus bernhardus) as a model to test whether microplastic exposure impacts the essential survival behaviours of contacting, investigating and entering an optimal shell. We kept 64 female hermit crabs in tanks containing either polyethylene spheres (n = 35) or no plastic (n = 29) for 5 days. We then transferred subjects into suboptimal shells and placed them in an observation tank with an optimal alternative shell. Plastic-exposed hermit crabs showed impaired shell selection: they were less likely than controls to contact optimal shells or enter them. They also took longer to contact and enter the optimal shell. Plastic exposure did not affect time spent investigating the optimal shell. These results indicate that microplastics impair cognition (information-gathering and processing), disrupting an essential survival behaviour in hermit crabs.

SUBMITTER: Crump A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7211466 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Microplastics disrupt hermit crab shell selection.

Crump Andrew A Mullens Charlotte C Bethell Emily J EJ Cunningham Eoghan M EM Arnott Gareth G

Biology letters 20200429 4

Microplastics (plastics < 5 mm) are a potential threat to marine biodiversity. However, the effects of microplastic pollution on animal behaviour and cognition are poorly understood. We used shell selection in common European hermit crabs (<i>Pagurus bernhardus</i>) as a model to test whether microplastic exposure impacts the essential survival behaviours of contacting, investigating and entering an optimal shell. We kept 64 female hermit crabs in tanks containing either polyethylene spheres (<i ...[more]

PMID: 32343937

Similar Datasets

Project description:BACKGROUND:Coexistence is enabled by ecological differentiation of the co-occurring species. One possible mechanism thereby is resource partitioning, where each species utilizes a distinct subset of the most limited resource. This resource partitioning is difficult to investigate using empirical research in nature, as only few species are primarily limited by solely one resource, rather than a combination of multiple factors. One exception are the shell-dwelling hermit crabs, which are known to be limited under natural conditions and in suitable habitats primarily by the availability of gastropod shells. In the present study, we used two co-occurring terrestrial hermit crab species, Coenobita rugosus and C. perlatus, to investigate how resource partitioning is realized in nature and whether it could be a driver of coexistence. RESULTS:Field sampling of eleven separated hermit crab populations showed that the two co-occurring hermit crab species inhabit the same beach habitat but utilize a distinct subset of the shell resource. Preference experiments and principal component analysis of the shell morphometric data thereby revealed that the observed utilization patterns arise out of different intrinsic preferences towards two distinct shell shapes. While C. rugosus displayed a preference towards a short and globose shell morphology, C. perlatus showed preferences towards an elongated shell morphology with narrow aperture. CONCLUSION:The two terrestrial hermit crab species occur in the same habitat but have evolved different preferences towards distinct subsets of the limiting shell resource. Resource partitioning might therefore be the main driver of their ecological differentiation, which ultimately allowed these co-occurring species to coexist in their environment. As the preferred shell morphology of C. rugosus maximizes reproductive output at the expense of protection, while the preferred shell morphology of C. perlatus maximizes protection against predation at the expense of reproductive output, shell resource partitioning might reflect different strategies to respond to the same set of selective pressures occurring in beach habitats. This work offers empirical support for the competitive exclusion principle-hypothesis and demonstrates that hermit crabs are an ideal model organism to investigate resource partitioning in natural populations.

Project description:Numerous environmental factors can influence body size. Comparing populations in different ecological contexts is one potential approach to elucidating the most critical of such factors. In the current study, we found that the body size of the land hermit crab Coenobita rugosus was significantly larger on Dongsha Island in the South China Sea than on other eco-islands around Southern Taiwan. We hypothesized that this could be due to differences in (1) shell resources, (2) parasite impact, (3) competition, (4) predation, and (5) food. We found no supporting evidence for the first three hypotheses; the shells used by the hermit crabs on Dongsha were in poorer condition than were those used elsewhere, extremely few individuals in the region had ectoparasites, and the density of hermit crabs varied considerably among localities within each island. However, significantly higher percentages of C. rugosus reached age 3 years on Dongsha than at Siziwan bay in Taiwan. Two growth rate indices inferred from size structures suggested faster growth on Dongsha than at Siziwan. The condition index (i.e., the body mass/shield length ratio of C. rugosus) was also greater on Dongsha than at Siziwan. Therefore, Dongsha hermit crabs seem to have superior diet and growth performance. Seagrass debris accumulation at the shore of Dongsha was considerable, whereas none was observed at Siziwan or on the other islands, where dicot leaves were the dominant food item for the vegetarian hermit crabs. We then experimentally evaluated the possible role of seagrass as food for C. rugosus. The crabs on Dongsha preferred seagrass to dicot leaves, and their growth increment was faster when they fed on seagrass than when they fed on dicot leaves; no such differences were found in the Siziwan hermit crabs. The aforementioned results are compatible with the food hypothesis explaining the size differences among the islands. The predator hypothesis could explain the greater life span but not the other findings. Populations of C. rugosus on islands with seagrass debris piles probably contribute more to the gene pool of the species because higher proportions of these populations could achieve high fecundity. The fate of these terrestrial hermit crabs may rely on the health of underwater seagrass ecosystems that are under threat from global change.

Dataset Information

Microplastics disrupt hermit crab shell selection.

Publications

Microplastics disrupt hermit crab shell selection.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets