Acclimation of Intertidal Crabs

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Abstract
SVXOPSIS. Intertidal crabs are subjected to marked fluctuations in environmental factors. Temperature and salinity influence the distribution of organisms both on a latitudinal basis and along a subtidal to terrestrial gradient. These factors are operative on all stages of the life history. Resistance-adaptations. Adult fiddler crabs (genus Uca) from the temperate zone are more resistant to low temperature than tropical species. Also, the tolerance to low temperature of crabs from the temperate zone is greatly influenced by thermal acclimation, i.e.. cold-acclimated crabs are more resistant than warm-acclimated animals. In contrast, tropical species have limited adaptive ability. At elevated temperatures no consistent difference in the lethal limits of crabs from tropical and temperate zones is observed. In contrast with the adults, larvae of tropical species are cold-resistant. However, the larvae of all species tested are more sensitive to reduced salinities than are the adults. Capacity-adaptatioyis. Subtidal species of crabs tend to have a lower level of respiratory performance, as measured by various indices, than crabs from the intertidal zone. The metabolic response of fiddler crabs from the temperate zone is more labile at low temperature than in species from the tropical zone. At elevated temperature the reverse response is observed. On an interspecific basis, differences in the metabolictemperature patterns of acclimation of latitudinally separated populations of U. pugilator are observed when based on the hypothetical schemes of Bullock, Precht, and Prosser.

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