Dipartimento di Biologia Evoluzionistica Leo Pardi, University of Florence, Italy.
Mar Pollut Bull. 2009 Dec;58(12):1860-7. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2009.07.019. Epub 2009 Aug 14.
The study aimed at investigating the effects of sewage loadings on the behaviour of two fiddler crabs species maintained in a system of experimental mesocosms, built in a mangrove area in Tanzania and inundated with different seawater/sewage mixtures. Our results show that sewage loads led to a modification of the overall activity budget of the crab community as a result of increased hypertrophic conditions (high COD, increased chlorophyll-a concentrations). During their activity period, crabs inside contaminated mesocosms seemed to satisfy their feeding demand faster than those of the control cells, spending a significant longer time in other activities like courtship and territorial defence. Apart from being a good biological indication of ecosystem eutrophication, such a reduced foraging activity by fiddler crabs also depresses their sediment bioturbation activity, important factor for the health of mangrove systems, suggesting practical implications regarding the efficiency of mangrove-based wetlands for treatment of domestic sewage.
本研究旨在调查污水负荷对两种招潮蟹在坦桑尼亚红树林地区建造的实验中观生态系统中的行为的影响，这些系统被淹没在不同的海水/污水混合物中。我们的结果表明，由于富营养化条件（高 COD、高叶绿素-a 浓度）的增加，污水负荷导致蟹类群落的整体活动预算发生了变化。在活动期间，受污染中观生态系统中的螃蟹似乎比对照单元中的螃蟹更快地满足其觅食需求，而将更多的时间花在求偶和领地防御等其他活动上。除了作为生态系统富营养化的良好生物学指标外，这种招潮蟹觅食活动的减少也会降低其沉积物生物搅动活性，这是红树林系统健康的重要因素，这表明基于红树林的湿地处理生活污水的效率具有实际意义。
