Aratus Pisonii) Zachary John Cannizzo
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University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Theses and Dissertations Fall 2018 Impacts of Natural and Anthropogenic Colonized Habitats on the Range Shifting Mangrove Tree Crab (Aratus Pisonii) Zachary John Cannizzo Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd Part of the Marine Biology Commons Recommended Citation Cannizzo, Z. J.(2018). Impacts of Natural and Anthropogenic Colonized Habitats on the Range Shifting Mangrove Tree Crab (Aratus Pisonii). (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/5040 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you by Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. IMPACTS OF NATURAL AND ANTHROPOGENIC COLONIZED HABITATS ON THE RANGE SHIFTING MANGROVE TREE CRAB (ARATUS PISONII) by Zachary John Cannizzo Bachelor of Science University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2012 Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Marine Science College of Arts and Sciences University of South Carolina 2018 Accepted by: Carol L. Boggs, Major Professor Blaine D. Griffen, Committee Member Ryan R. Rykaczewski, Committee Member James L. Pinckney, Committee Member Ilka C. Feller, Committee Member Cheryl L. Addy, Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School © Copyright by Zachary John Cannizzo, 2018 All Rights Reserved. ii DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my parents, Greg and Linda, and my fiancée, Aimee for their unwavering love and support. I could not have done it without you. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to begin by thanking my family, who made this journey possible. To my parents, Greg and Linda Cannizzo, my siblings, Hayley, Kelsey, and Jacob Cannizzo, and my fiancée Aimee Schuh: your unwavering love, support, and encouragement got me through good times and bad. Special thanks to Aimee, my companion and part-time field assistant. Beyond my family, the support of lab mates and friends, especially Eilea Knotts, Rachel Steward, Ben Hocking, Austin Claridge, Ben Belgrad, and Mustafa Gül, helped me greatly along the way. I will always treasure the friendships I made at USC. I also thank my committee members, Dr. Ryan Rykaczewski, Dr. Jay Pinckney, Dr. Carol Boggs, and Dr. Candy Feller for their donation of time, input, and advice. Further thanks go to Dr. Candy Feller for sponsoring me at the Smithsonian Marine Station. Finally, special thanks are due to my advisors Dr. Blaine Griffen, whose excellent mentorship, support, and advice throughout my graduate studies have been invaluable, and Dr. Carol Boggs, who generously took in a lab-less graduate student. I would also like to thank everyone at the Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce, FL, out of which my field work was based, for hosting me and providing support. Of particular note are Jay Houk, Sheri Reed, Woody Lee, Dr. Loraé Simpson, and John- Paul Kennedy, all of whom provided an exceptional level of help, friendship, and support. Further, I am grateful to the funding sources that supported my research and the collaborators who contributed to various projects, especially Dr. Susan Lang and Bryan Benitez-Nelson whose aid and expertise made CHAPTER 4 possible. iv ABSTRACT Mis-matches in climate-mediated shifting rates cause the ranges of some species to become decoupled from their historic ecosystem, leading to the colonization of ecosystems they have not previously inhabited. When this occurs, the shifting species may experience suboptimal conditions which challenge its ability to persist and expand into the novel ecosystem. However, within the colonized ecosystem, shifting species may encounter artificial habitat analogues: artificial habitats that more closely resemble the species’ historic ecosystem than the surrounding habitat and which mitigate some of the negative impacts experienced elsewhere in the novel ecosystem. Despite their importance to the ecology, life history, and continued expansion of range shifting species, habitat effects within novel ecosystems are poorly understood. This dissertation explores habitat effects within the context of the range expansion of the mangrove tree crab Aratus pisonii. We show that the artificial structure of boat docks acts as a habitat analogue to the historic mangrove ecosystem of this crab and thus alleviates many negative impacts it experiences in the colonized salt marsh ecosystem. Docks mitigate the alteration of ecologically relevant behaviors and, by providing improved thermal and dietary conditions, negative ecological and life history impacts A. pisonii otherwise experiences as it colonizes the salt marsh. Through a mechanistic exploration of reproductive potential and fitness, we also show that while the mangrove provides the best reproductive environment for A. pisonii, diet-driven differences in maternal reproductive investment allow the dock habitat to increase reproductive potential and fitness over the v surrounding salt marsh. Further, while they fail to fully grant refuge from hurricane disturbances, docks provide a thermal refuge during winter die-backs allowing A. pisonii to expand more quickly and further into the salt marsh than would otherwise be possible. Ultimately, this dissertation emphasizes the impact of habitat effects in altering the ecology, life history, and expansion of range shifting species while highlighting the ability of artificial structures to act as habitat analogues and mitigate negative impacts that may otherwise be encountered in colonized ecosystems. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ....................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................ iv ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................. ix LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................x CHAPTER 1: General Introduction ........................................................................................1 CHAPTER 2: Changes in spatial behavior patterns by mangrove tree crabs following climate-induced range shift into novel habitat ........................................8 CHAPTER 3: An anthropogenic habitat within a suboptimal colonized ecosystem provides improved conditions for a range-shifting species ...................................41 CHAPTER 4: An artificial habitat increases the reproductive fitness of a range shifting species within a newly colonized ecosystem ..................................87 CHAPTER 5: Habitat specific impacts of Hurricane Matthew on a range expanding species ...............................................................................123 CHAPTER 6: Individual morphology and habitat structure alter social interactions in a range-shifting species ................................................................152 CHAPTER 7: An artificial habitat facilitates a climate-mediated range expansion into a suboptimal novel ecosystem .....................................................183 CHAPTER 8: General Conclusion ......................................................................................214 APPENDIX A: Supplemental tables and figures for CHAPTER 3 ........................................224 APPENDIX B: Methodological supplement for CHAPTER 4 ..............................................229 APPENDIX C: Supplemental tables and figures for CHAPTER 4 ........................................233 APPENDIX D: Permission for republication of CHAPTER 2 ...............................................241 vii APPENDIX E: Creative commons licensing agreement for CHAPTER 3 ............................242 APPENDIX F: Permission for republication of CHAPTER 5 ...............................................243 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 Description of sites included in site fidelity study .............................................29 Table 3.1 Ethogram of behavioral categories assigned during field observations ............69 Table 4.1 Description of collection sites included in reproductive potential study .........108 Table 5.1 Description of sites explored in hurricane impacts study ................................140 Table 6.1 Description of sites sampled for ritualistic aggression study ..........................171 Table 6.2 Ethogram of behaviors in A. pisonii ritualized aggression progression ..........172 Table 7.1 Description of sites included in range expansion surveys ...............................202 Table A.1 Description of sites and crabs sampled in CHAPTER 3 ....................................225 Table C.1 Statistical output for results presented in reproductive potential study ..........233 Table C.2 Full results of egg fatty acid analyses .............................................................236 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 Set-up of fecal cue choice experiments ............................................................30 Figure 2.2 Site fidelity in A. pisonii ...................................................................................31 Figure 2.3 Foraging foray behavior in mangrove habitat ..................................................32