Ecology of Fear and the Striped Hermit Crab: An Analysis of Clibanarius vittatus Feeding and Defense Behaviors in the Presence of a Predator (2015)

Undergraduate: Caroline Hamilton

Faculty Advisor: Charles Peterson
Department: Environmental Science

---

The ecology of fear describes the non-consumptive effects that predators have upon prey¿¿¿changes to foraging, reproductive, and migratory behaviors, for example. This study analyzed whether the striped hermit crab, a valuable scavenger, demonstrates the ecology of fear in the presence of a predator, the Florida stone crab. Mesocosm experiments were conducted using two treatments: presence vs. absence of a caged stone crab and presence vs. absence of a marl dome refuge. Dead baitfish were used to quantify hermit crab foraging behavior. There was not a statistically significant difference in the proportion of dead fish biomass consumed in the presence vs. absence of a predator. There was a statistically significant difference in the proportion of fish fed off of in the presence vs. absence of a stone crab, with hermit crabs feeding off of fewer fish in the presence of a stone crab. Hermit crabs may have reduced predation risk by consuming the same overall amount of biomass off of fewer fish in the presence of a caged stone crab. With an increasing population of stone crabs in North Carolina and the potential for ocean acidification to degrade hermit crab shells, hermit crabs may become more vulnerable to predation in the future. In the face of a changing world, it is increasingly crucial to understand how organisms that provide valuable ecosystem services, such as scavengers, will be affected by these changes, and how these effects may propagate throughout ecosystems.