#EESPublishes: Prof Peter Groffman on Crab Burrowing and Surface Litter Limits in Temperate Salt Marshes

EES, ASRC, and Brooklyn College Professor Peter Groffman co-authored an article in the journal Ecosystems entitled Crab Burrowing Limits Surface Litter Accumulation in a Temperate Salt Marsh: Implications for Ecosystem Functioning and Connectivity. Abstract: Burial of aboveground plant litter by animals reduces the amount available for surface transport and places it into a different environment, affecting decomposition rates and fluxes of organic matter to adjacent ecosystems. Here we show that in a Southwestern Atlantic salt marsh the burrowing crab Neohelice granulata buries aboveground plant litter at rates (0.5–8 g m−2 day−1) comparable to those of litter production (3 g m−2 day−1). Buried litter has a low probability (0.6%) of …

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