Population level differences in overwintering survivorship of blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus): A caution on extrapolating climate sensitivities along latitudinal gradients.

ABSTRACT: Winter mortality can strongly affect the population dynamics of blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) near poleward range limits. We simulated winter in the lab to test the effects of temperature, salinity, and estuary of origin on blue crab winter mortality over three years using a broad range of crab sizes from both Great South Bay and Chesapeake Bay. We fit accelerated failure time models to our data and to data from prior blue crab winter mortality experiments, illustrating that, in a widely distributed, commercially valuable marine decapod, temperature, salinity, size, estuary of origin, and winter duration were important predictors of winter mortality. Furthermore, our results suggest that extrapolation of a Chesapeake Bay based survivorship model to crabs from New York estuaries yielded

SUBMITTER: Molina AI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8454986 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature