Abstract

In marshland zones, fiddler crabs are a keystone species due to their vital role in the health and endurance of an ecosystem (Rosenberg, 2020, p. 1). Fiddler crabs perform this duty in a wide array of marshlands throughout West Africa, the Western Atlantic, the Eastern Pacific, the Indo-Pacific, and the Algarve region of Portugal (Vianna et al., 2020, p.1). In these environments, fiddler crabs are detritivores, or organisms who rely on organic waste products, dead plants and animals, and small eukaryotic organisms, such as algae (collectively known as detritus) (Britannica, 2020). By consuming detritus, fiddler crabs manage populations of microalgae, or unicellular microorganisms that create algal biomass through photosynthesis (Ruane et al., 2010, p. 3). This study seeks to examine the effect that temperature has on the North American fiddler crabs escape response. This was conducted by determining fiddler crab displacement over 5 seconds and 2 minutes in response to a predator stimulus. This enabled researches to understand how temperature would effect fiddler crabs fear response as climate change takes hold. The data from this study suggests that rising temperatures may impair fiddler crabs' sustained escape response, which could affect predator-prey dynamics in warming habitats. This is a promising result because it indicates that when temperature increases, a fiddler crab's short term ability to evade predators may not be affected. However, it is important to note that a fiddler crabs' sustained fear response is affected by temperature increases. Thus, future research should be conducted to better understand the relationship between temperature and long term fear response.