Hermit crabs (Pagurus spp.) at their northernmost range: distribution, abundance and shell use in the European Arctic
Hermit crabs are important components of Arctic benthic systems, yet baseline data on their densities and distribution patterns in this rapidly changing region are still scarce. Here we compile results of numerous research expeditions to Svalbard, the Barents Sea and northern Norway that were carrie...
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:510628 2023-05-15T14:26:44+02:00 Hermit crabs (Pagurus spp.) at their northernmost range: distribution, abundance and shell use in the European Arctic Balazy, Piotr Kuklinski, Piotr Włodarska-Kowalczuk, Maria Barnes, David Kędra, Monika Legeżyńska, Joanna Marcin Węsławski, Jan 2015-03-31 text http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/510628/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/510628/1/21412-155633-1-PB.pdf https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v34.21412 en eng Co-Action News https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/510628/1/21412-155633-1-PB.pdf Balazy, Piotr; Kuklinski, Piotr; Włodarska-Kowalczuk, Maria; Barnes, David orcid:0000-0002-9076-7867 Kędra, Monika; Legeżyńska, Joanna; Marcin Węsławski, Jan. 2015 Hermit crabs (Pagurus spp.) at their northernmost range: distribution, abundance and shell use in the European Arctic. Polar Research, 34. https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v34.21412 <https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v34.21412> cc_by_nc_4 CC-BY-NC Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2015 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v34.21412 2023-02-04T19:41:30Z Hermit crabs are important components of Arctic benthic systems, yet baseline data on their densities and distribution patterns in this rapidly changing region are still scarce. Here we compile results of numerous research expeditions to Svalbard, the Barents Sea and northern Norway that were carried out from 1979 to 2011 by the Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences. The diversity of hermit crabs at the northern edge of their occurrence is very low; in Svalbard waters only one species (Pagurus pubescens) was detected. Another species (P. bernhardus), found in northern mainland Norway, north of the Arctic Circle, is likely to extend its distribution northward as the climate warms. Where the two species co-occur, competition between them probably accounts for the smaller sizes and poorer quality shells used by P. pubescens. The composition of the mollusc shells inhabited by these crabs differs between northern Norway and Svalbard, reflecting local mollusc species pools. Hermit crab densities were significantly higher than previously reported (max. mean 10 ind. m−2), suggesting their increasing level of dominance in benthic communities in the studied areas. The first to report the distribution of hermit crabs among habitats, this study showed that most individuals occurred at shallow depths (5–150 m), away from glacier termini and on hard bedrock rather than on soft substrata. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Barents Sea glacier glacier Northern Norway Polar Research Svalbard Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Arctic Svalbard Barents Sea Norway Polar Research 34 1 21412 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftnerc |
language |
English |
description |
Hermit crabs are important components of Arctic benthic systems, yet baseline data on their densities and distribution patterns in this rapidly changing region are still scarce. Here we compile results of numerous research expeditions to Svalbard, the Barents Sea and northern Norway that were carried out from 1979 to 2011 by the Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences. The diversity of hermit crabs at the northern edge of their occurrence is very low; in Svalbard waters only one species (Pagurus pubescens) was detected. Another species (P. bernhardus), found in northern mainland Norway, north of the Arctic Circle, is likely to extend its distribution northward as the climate warms. Where the two species co-occur, competition between them probably accounts for the smaller sizes and poorer quality shells used by P. pubescens. The composition of the mollusc shells inhabited by these crabs differs between northern Norway and Svalbard, reflecting local mollusc species pools. Hermit crab densities were significantly higher than previously reported (max. mean 10 ind. m−2), suggesting their increasing level of dominance in benthic communities in the studied areas. The first to report the distribution of hermit crabs among habitats, this study showed that most individuals occurred at shallow depths (5–150 m), away from glacier termini and on hard bedrock rather than on soft substrata. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Balazy, Piotr Kuklinski, Piotr Włodarska-Kowalczuk, Maria Barnes, David Kędra, Monika Legeżyńska, Joanna Marcin Węsławski, Jan |
spellingShingle |
Balazy, Piotr Kuklinski, Piotr Włodarska-Kowalczuk, Maria Barnes, David Kędra, Monika Legeżyńska, Joanna Marcin Węsławski, Jan Hermit crabs (Pagurus spp.) at their northernmost range: distribution, abundance and shell use in the European Arctic |
author_facet |
Balazy, Piotr Kuklinski, Piotr Włodarska-Kowalczuk, Maria Barnes, David Kędra, Monika Legeżyńska, Joanna Marcin Węsławski, Jan |
author_sort |
Balazy, Piotr |
title |
Hermit crabs (Pagurus spp.) at their northernmost range: distribution, abundance and shell use in the European Arctic |
title_short |
Hermit crabs (Pagurus spp.) at their northernmost range: distribution, abundance and shell use in the European Arctic |
title_full |
Hermit crabs (Pagurus spp.) at their northernmost range: distribution, abundance and shell use in the European Arctic |
title_fullStr |
Hermit crabs (Pagurus spp.) at their northernmost range: distribution, abundance and shell use in the European Arctic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Hermit crabs (Pagurus spp.) at their northernmost range: distribution, abundance and shell use in the European Arctic |
title_sort |
hermit crabs (pagurus spp.) at their northernmost range: distribution, abundance and shell use in the european arctic |
publisher |
Co-Action News |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/510628/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/510628/1/21412-155633-1-PB.pdf https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v34.21412 |
geographic |
Arctic Svalbard Barents Sea Norway |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Svalbard Barents Sea Norway |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Barents Sea glacier glacier Northern Norway Polar Research Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Barents Sea glacier glacier Northern Norway Polar Research Svalbard |
op_relation |
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/510628/1/21412-155633-1-PB.pdf Balazy, Piotr; Kuklinski, Piotr; Włodarska-Kowalczuk, Maria; Barnes, David orcid:0000-0002-9076-7867 Kędra, Monika; Legeżyńska, Joanna; Marcin Węsławski, Jan. 2015 Hermit crabs (Pagurus spp.) at their northernmost range: distribution, abundance and shell use in the European Arctic. Polar Research, 34. https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v34.21412 <https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v34.21412> |
op_rights |
cc_by_nc_4 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY-NC |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v34.21412 |
container_title |
Polar Research |
container_volume |
34 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
21412 |
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1766300151423434752 |