Authors: Alexander C Ferreira Gislene Ganade Fúlvio A Morais Freire José Luiz Attayde
Publish Date: 2013/02/21
Volume: 707, Issue: 1, Pages: 135-146
Abstract
In Neotropical mangroves the crabs Ucides cordatus and Goniopsis cruentata have been considered the most significant propagule consumers but their relative importance has not been investigated The aim of this study was to compare the magnitude of predation by these crabs on three mangrove species propagules Avicennia schaueriana Laguncularia racemosa and Rhizophora mangle We found that G cruentata is a more important predator than U cordatus in both natural and restored areas We also tested the hypothesis that Ucides and Goniopsis have antagonistic effects on propagules predation using a cage experiment where the presence/absence of these species was manipulated in a 2 × 2 factorial design The effects of Goniopsis were stronger in the absence of Ucides due to negative interactions between these predator species Moreover we found that Goniopsis preference for A schaueriana and L racemosa can favor the dominance of R mangle in Neotropical mangroves This study suggests that propagule predation by Goniopsis should be controlled in mangrove restoration programs at abandoned shrimp farms and destroyed areas if dominance by R mangle is undesirable relative to mixed species communitiesConselho de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal Superior CAPES/REUNI provided a PhD grant to Alexander C Ferreira We also thank Sarah Mariana da Silva Nicholas S A de Araujo Vandir Villar Leonardo D R da Silva Elisa V Gurgel Eduardo Silva and Carlos E R D Alencar for their valuable field assistance
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