Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-21T20:36:24.343Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Red crabs in rain forest on Christmas Island, Indian Ocean: activity patterns, density and biomass

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Peter T. Green*
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia
*
2c/- CSIRO, Division of Wildlife and Ecology, Tropical Forest Research Centre, PO Box 780, Atherton, QLD 4883Australia. Email: [email protected].

Abstract

The red crab Gecarcoidea natalis is the most abundant land crab on Christmas Island, Indian Ocean, and is found wherever native rain forest is still intact. The largest crabs grow to > 120 mm carapace width and reach > 500 g in mass. Red crabs are diurnally active, and moisture appears to be the most important factor governing surface activity – activity was nil below 77% RH, relatively low at 87% RH, and high above 95% RH. The crabs retreat to the interior of their burrows during dry periods, but emerge rapidly in response to rain. Because of their dependence on moisture for surface activity, red crabs show greater levels of activity during the wet season. Annual breeding migrations and moulting activity decreased the density of surface-active crabs at the main study sites for several weeks at the start of the wet season, and fruit and leaf fall caused dramatic local increases in the density of active red crabs. Density and biomass at the main study sites averaged 1.3 crabs m-2 and 1454 kg ha-1, respectively, and 1.2 crabs m-2 and 1137 kg ha-1 at a total of five sites across the island. Rough calculations suggest that the island-wide population is at least 100 million individuals. Red crabs are the dominant consumer on the forest floor, and consume seeds, seedlings and leaf litter. Because they are both abundant and widespread, these animals have the potential to be the most important determinant of pattern and process in rain forest on Christmas Island.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

Adamczewska, A. M. & Morris, S. 1994. Exercise in the Christmas Island red crab Gecarcoidea natalis. II. Energetics of locomotion. Journal of Experimental Biology 188:257274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alcock, I. 1900. Materials for a carcinological fauna of India, No. 6. The Brachyura Catometopa, or Grapsoidea. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, ii Natural Science 69:4444448.Google Scholar
Alexander, H. G. L. 1979. A preliminary assessment of the role of the terrestrial decapod crustaceans in the Aldabran ecosystem. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. B Biological Science 286:241246.Google Scholar
Andrews, C. W. 1900. A monograph of Christmas Island (Indian Ocean). British Museum (Natural History), London.Google Scholar
Audy, J. R. 1950. A visit to Jarak Island in the Malacca Straits. Malayan Nature Journal 5:3846.Google Scholar
Audy, J. R., Harrison, J. L. & Wyatt-Smith, J. 1950. A survey of Jarak Island, Straits of Malacca. Bulletin of the Raffles Museum, Singapore 23:230261.Google Scholar
Bates, M. & Abbott, D. 1958. Coral island, portrait of an atoll. Scribner, New York.Google Scholar
Bliss, D. E. 1979. From tree to sea: saga of a land crab. American Zoologist 19:385410.Google Scholar
Bliss, D. E., Van Montfrans, J., Van Montfrans, M. & Boyer, J. R. 1978. Behaviour and growth of the land crab Gecarcinus lateralis (Fréminville) in southern Florida. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 160:111152.Google Scholar
Bourne, G. C. 1886. General observations on the fauna of Diego Garcia, Chagos group. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1886:331334.Google Scholar
Bunce, P. 1988. The Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Jacaranda Press, Queensland, Australia.Google Scholar
Burggren, W. W. & Mcmahon, B. R. (editors) 1988. Biology of the land crabs. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Degener, O. & Gillaspy, E. 1955. Canton Island, South Pacific. Atoll Research Bulletin 41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delesalle, B. and Colleagues, . 1985. Environmental survey of Mataiua Atoll, Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia. Atoll Research Bulletin 306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Du Puy, D. J. 1993. Christmas Island. Pp. 130 in George, A. S., Orchard, A. E. & Hewson, H. J. (eds). Flora of Australia Volume 50, Oceanic Islands 2. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.Google Scholar
Ehrhardt, J.-P. & Niaussat, P. 1970. Ecologie et physiologie du brachyoure terrestre Gecarcinus planatus Stimpson (d'aprés les individs de l'atoll de Clippeton). Bulletin de Société Zoologique de France 95:4154.Google Scholar
English, T. M. S. 1913. Some notes from a West Indian coral island: Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information 10:367372.Google Scholar
Falkland, A. 1986. Christmas Island (Indian Ocean) water resources study in relation to proposed development at waterfall. Unpublished report prepared by the Hydrology and Water Resources Unit, Transport and Works Division for the Department of Territories.Google Scholar
Fittkau, E. J. & Klinge, H. 1973. On biomass and trophic structure of the central Amazonian rain forest ecosystem. Biotropica 5:214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garcia-Franco, J. G., Rico-Gray, V. & Zayas, O. 1991. Seed and seedling predation of Bromelia pinguin L. by the red land crab Gecarcinus lateralis Frem. in Veracruz, Mexico. Biotropica 23:9697.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibson-Hill, C. A. 1947. Field notes on the terrestrial crabs. Bulletin of the Raffles Museum, Singapore 18:4353.Google Scholar
Gibson-Hill, C. A. 1948. The island of North Keeling. Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 21:68103.Google Scholar
Gifford, C. A. 1962. Some observations on the general biology of the land crab, Cardisoma guanhumi (Latreille), in south Florida. Biological Bulletin 123:207223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilchrist, S. L. 1988. Appendix: natural histories of selected terrestrial crabs. Pp. 382390 in Burggren, W. W. & McMahon, B. R. (eds). Biology of the land crabs. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Green, P. T. 1993. The role of red land crabs (Gecarcoidea natalis Pocock 1888); Brachyura, Gecarcinidae) in structuring rain forest on Christmas Island, Indian Ocean. Unpublished PhD thesis, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.Google Scholar
Greenaway, P. & Linton, S. M. 1995. Dietary assimilation and food retention time in a herbivorous terrestrial crab Gecarcoidea natalis. In press, Physiological Zoology.Google Scholar
Hamilton, J. & Coe, M. 1982. Feeding, digestion and assimilation of a population of giant tortoises (Geochelone gigantea (Schwigger)) on Aldabra atoll. Journal of Arid Environments 5:127144.Google Scholar
Hartnoll, R. G. 1988. Evolution, systematics and geographical distribution. Pp. 654 in Burggren, W. W. & McMahon, B. R. (eds). Biology of the land crabs. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hedley, C. 1896. General account of the atoll of Funafuti. Australian Museum Memoirs, Sydney, vol. 3.Google Scholar
Herreid, C. F. II. 1969a. Water loss of crabs from different habitats. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 28:829839.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herreid, C. F. II. 1969b. Integument permeability of land crabs and adaptation to land. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 29:423429.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herreid, C. F. II & Full, R. J. 1988. Energetics and locomotion. Pp. 333376 in Burggren, W. W. & McMahon, B. R. (eds). Biology of the land crabs. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herreid, C. F. II & Gifford, C. A. 1963. The burrow habitat of the land crab, Cardisoma guanhumi (Latreille). Ecology. 44:773775.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hicks, J. 1985. The breeding behaviour and migrations of the terrestrial crab Gecarcoidea natalis (Decapoda: Brachyura). Australian Journal of Zoology 33:127142 (also see accessory publication).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hicks, J., Rumpff, H. & Yorkston, H. 1990. Christmas crabs. Second Edition. Christmas Island Natural History Association.Google Scholar
Holthuis, L. B. 1977. The Grapsidae, Gecarcinidae and Palicidae (Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura) of the Red Sea. Israel Journal of Zoology 26:141192.Google Scholar
Howard, R. A. 1950. Vegetation of the Bimini Island group. Ecological Monographs 20:314349.Google Scholar
Jiméinez, C., Ortega-Rubio, A., Alvarez-Cárdenas, S. & Arnaud, G. 1994. Ecological aspects of the land crab Gecarcinus planatus (Decapoda: Gecarcinidae) in Socorro Island, Mexico. Biological Conservation 69:913.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, D. S. 1965. Land crabs. Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 38:4366.Google Scholar
Klaasen, F. 1975. Oekologische und ethologische Untersuchungen zur Fortpflanzungabiologie von Gecarcinus lateralis (Decapoda, Brachyura). Forma el Functio 8:101174.Google Scholar
Kloss, C. B. 1903. In the Andamans and Nicobars. John Murray, London.Google Scholar
Lake, P. S. & O'Dowd, D. J. 1991. Red crabs in rain forest, Christmas Island: biotic resistance to invasion by an exotic snail. Oikos 62:2529.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, M. A. 1985. The dispersal of Pandanus tectorius by the land crab Cardisoma camifex. Oikos 45:169173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, M. A. 1988. Food preferences and feeding behaviour of the land crab Cardisoma camifex. Micronesica 21:274279.Google Scholar
Louda, S. M. & Zedler, P. H. 1985. Predation in insular plant dynamics: an experimental assessment of postdispersal fruit and seed survival, Enewetak Atoll, Marshall Islands. American Journal of Botany 72:438445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lutz, P. L. & Austin, C. B. 1983. Land crabs: a new resource potential. Gulf and Carribean Fisheries Institute Proceedings 35:616.Google Scholar
McCann, C. 1938. Notes on the common land crab Paratelphusa (Barytelphusa) guerini (M.-Eds.) of Salsette Island. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 39:531542.Google Scholar
Mitchell, B. A. 1975. The forest flora of Christmas Island. Commonwealth Forestry Review 53:1929.Google Scholar
Morgan, G. J. 1988. Note on the terrestrial crabs (Decapoda: Anomura, Brachyura) of the Krakatau Islands, Indonesia. Indo-Malayan Zoology 5:307309.Google Scholar
Niering, W. A. 1963. Terrestrial ecology of Kapingamarangi Atoll, Caroline Islands. Ecological Monographs 33:131160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Dowd, D. J. & Lake, P. S. 1989. Red crabs in rain forest, Christmas Island: removal and relocation of leaf-fall. Journal of Tropical Ecology 5:337348.Google Scholar
O'Dowd, D. J. & Lake, P. S. 1990. Red crabs in rain forest, Christmas Island: differential herbivory of seedlings. Oikos 58:289292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Dowd, D. J. & Lake, P. S. 1991. Red crabs in rain forest, Christmas Island: removal and fate of fruits and seeds. Journal of Tropical Ecology 7:113122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Odum, H. T., Abbott, W., Selander, R. K., Golley, F. B. & Wilson, R. F. 1970. Estimates of chlorophyll and biomass of the Tobonuco Forest of Puerto Rico. Pp. 318 in Odum, H. T. & Pigeon, R. F. (eds). A tropical rain forest: a study of irradiation and ecology at El Verde, Puerto Rico. U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Page, H. M. & Willason, S. W. 1982. Distribution patterns of terrestrial hermit crabs at Enewetak Atoll, Marshall Islands. Pacific Science 36:107117.Google Scholar
Palmer, J. D. 1971. Comparative studies of circadian locomotory rhythms in four species of terrestrial crabs. American Midland Naturalist 85:97107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powers, L. W. & Bliss, D. E. 1983. Terrestrial adaptations. Pp. 271333 in Bliss, D. E. (ed). The biology of Crustacea, Vol. 8. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Ridley, H. N. 1930. The dispersal of plants throughout the world. L. Reeve and Co., Ashford, Kent.Google Scholar
Simberloff, D. S. 1974. Equilibrium theory of island biogeography and ecology. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 5:161182.Google Scholar
Stoddart, D. R. 1971. Rainfall on Indian Ocean coral atolls. Atoll Research Bulletin 147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tracey, J. G. 1991. Review of current rehabilitation techniques aimed at revegetation of former mined areas on Christmas Island, Indian Ocean. Unpublished report to the Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service, Canberra.Google Scholar
Türkay, M. 1974. Die Gecarcinidae Asiens und Ozeaniens (Crustacea: Decapoda). Senckenb. Biol. 55:223259.Google Scholar
Vitousek, P. M. & Sanford, R. L. 1986. Nutrient cycling in moist tropical forest. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 17:137167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webb, L. J. 1968. Environmental relationships of the structural types of Australian rain forest vegetation. Ecology 49:296311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilkinson, L. 1990. SYSTATTM5.03. SYSTAT Inc., Illinois, U.S.A.Google Scholar
Williamson, M. 1981. Island populations. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wright, S. J. 1980. Density compensation in island avifaunas. Oecologia 45:385389.Google Scholar
Wyatt-Smith, J. 1953. The vegetation of Jarak Island, Straits of Malacca. Journal of Ecology 41:207225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar