Fiddler Crab Lab

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Dispersion Lab
Kelly McNulty
Ecology
The Dispersion of Fiddler Crabs in Oso Bay Introduction: The purpose of this experiment is to learn the distribution of Fiddler Crabs in the Oso Bay area at low tide. The observation of the distribution of fiddler crabs will prove that fiddler crabs will live within and closer to vegetation then out in the open on the salt marsh. We will observe random, clumped and, uniform holes all in different areas of our salt marsh. Fiddler crabs are common residents of moderate to warm coastal communities, often living within mangrove and salt marsh habitats (Smith et. al. 2007). In tropical regions, different species of fiddler crabs coexist on the mangrove floor. These crabs reside around their burrows into which …show more content…
Along with that, the X2α value ended up being 286.806. However, what do all the numbers listed mean? All fiddler crab holes are not random is what the numbers are saying. The fiddler crabs are clumped when burrowing. This graph is showing how often each quadrant has in each burrow count, so quadrant 1 could have 0 burrows but the next will have 3 burrows, and so on, it is a tally of the frequency. …show more content…
One theory would be how they feed "There are two constraints with the potential effect on fiddler crabs foraging patterns which derive from particular characteristics in their behavior and environment. The first constraint may be given by the nature and distribution of food resource that is sparse within the surrounding sediment" (Virgilio & Ribeiro 2013). Another reason burrowing in clumps is fiddler crabs associate with mangrove trees from the results of lower tolerance of the fiddler crabs. In addition, scientists suggested that fiddler crabs which favor shade have a lower tolerance to temperature ( Mokhtari et al. 2013).

Works cited
Mokhtari, M., Ghaffar, M. A., Usup, G., & Cob, Z. C. (2013). The Ecology of Fiddler Crab Uca forcipata in Mangrove Forest. AIP Conference Proceedings, 1571498-504. doi:10.1063/1.4858704
Mokhtari, M., Ghaffar, M. A., Usup, G., & Cob, Z. C. (2015). Determination of Key Environmental Factors Responsible for Distribution Patterns of Fiddler Crabs in a Tropical Mangrove Ecosystem. Plos ONE, 10(1), 1-17. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0117467
Smith, N. F., Ruiz, G. M., & Reed, S. A. (2007). Habitat and Host Specificity of Trematode Metacercariae in Fiddler Crabs from Mangrove Habitats in Florida.Journal Of Parasitology, 93(5), 999-1005.
Virgilio, A. a., & Ribeiro, P. (2013). Spatial and temporal patterns in the feeding behavior of a fiddler crab. Marine
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