Feeding ecology and bioturbation of fiddler crab Uca princeps (Smith, 1870) (Brachyura, Ocypodidae) in a peri-urban wetland in an arid region

Abstract Fiddler crabs are essential to understanding tropical coastal wetlands' dynamics and analyzing carbon budgets because they are the primary epibenthic biomass. They have a high consumption of detritus/bacterial biomass and generate high rates of bioturbation in sediments, affecting storage and export carbon budgets. In the present study, we analyzed the feeding ecology and bioturbation of Uca princeps with field experiments (i.e., daily food intake) and laboratory/analysis. This study estimated the daily food intake, evacuation rates, organic matter/carbon content, and bioturbation rate by feeding this species in two seasons (cold and warm). We found that the percentage of daily intake of U. princeps measured in dry weight in November 2008 was 16.2% and 17.4% for females and males, while in April, the food intake was much higher with 38.4% and 41.6%, respectively. The average bioturbation of this species through their feeding activities was ~ 0.3 Mg ha− 1 day− 1. The results suggest that the females are more selective in their feed. The evacuation rate was 0.84 h− 1 for females and 0.87 h− 1 for males. Therefore, U. princeps plays a vital role within the peri-urban ecosystem by removing/altering high quantities of organic matter from the sediments, transforming them into biomass, and influencing biophysical modifications in the peat.