Coastal Vegetation and Bathymetry Influence Blue Crab Abundance Across Spatial Scales

Blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) are highly mobile, ecologically-important mesopredators that support multimillion-dollar fisheries along the western Atlantic Ocean. Understanding how blue crabs respond to coastal landscape change is integral to conservation and management, but such insights have been limited to a narrow range of habitats and spatial scales. We examined how local-scale to landscape-scale habitat characteristics and bathymetric features (channels and oceanic inlets) affect the relative abundance (catch per unit effort, CPUE) of adult blue crabs across a > 33 km(2) seagrass landscape in coastal Virginia, USA. We found that crab CPUE was 1.7 x higher in sparse (versus dense) seagrass, 2.4 x higher at sites farther from (versus nearer to) salt marshes, and unaffected by proximity to oyster reefs. The probability that a trapped crab was female was 5.1 x higher in sparse seagrass and 8 x higher near deep channels. The probability of a female crab being gravid was 2.8 x higher near seagrass meadow edges and 3.3 x higher near deep channels. Moreover, the likelihood of a gravid female having mature eggs was 16 x greater in sparse seagrass and 32 x greater near oceanic inlets. Overall, we discovered that adult blue crab CPUE is influenced by seagrass, salt marsh, and bathymetric features on scales from meters to kilometers, and that habitat associations depend on sex and reproductive stage. Hence, accelerating changes to coastal geomorphology and vegetation will likely alter the abundance and distribution of adult blue crabs, challenging marine spatial planning and ecosystem-based fisheries management.

Automated summary

This study examined the relative abundance of blue crabs in different habitat environments. The results showed that the abundance of blue crabs is influenced by seagrass, salt marsh, and bathymetric features, and the habitat associations depend on sex and reproductive stage. Changes in coastal geomorphology and vegetation may impact the abundance and distribution of blue crabs in the future.