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Can the bioturbation activity of the fiddler crab Minuca rapax modify the distribution of microplastics in sediments?
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Researchers investigated whether the bioturbation activity of the fiddler crab Minuca rapax can modify the distribution of microplastics in sediments along an urbanization gradient in the Gulf of Mexico. The study compared microplastic concentrations between burrows, feeding pellets, and crab tissues, finding that microplastics were more abundant and diverse in burrows. Evidence indicates that fiddler crab burrowing and feeding behaviors actively redistribute microplastics within coastal sediments.
Fiddler crabs are known as "eco-engineers" who maintain habitat health through sediment bioturbation. They regularly interact with microplastics (MPs) due to their contact with the sediment. In this study we compared MPs concentration between burrows and pellets resulting from bioturbation, and MPs bioaccumulation in the soft tissues of Minuca rapax (Smith, 1870), along a gradient of urbanization in Isla del Carmen, southern Gulf of Mexico. Overall, MPs shape and color in the pellets and in the tissues reflected those of the burrow's sediments. MPs were more abundant and diverse in burrows (9 ± 12 MPs.g) than in pellets (5 ± 5 MPs.g) or in the soft tissues (1.3 ± 1.2 MPs.g). Bioturbation can concentrate MPs in pellets and tissues, depending on the MPs contamination and urbanization level. M. rapax is an important structuring agent of sedimentary MPs, showing a strong top-down translocation of MPs in subtropical tidal flats.
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Researchers examined fiddler crab (Minuca rapax) bioturbation in mangrove sediments of the southern Gulf of Mexico, finding that crab burrowing activity concentrated microplastics in burrow sediments and that the characteristics of microplastics ingested by the crabs reflected those found in burrows, with the degree of bioturbation-driven MP concentration varying with local urbanization levels.
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A study of microplastic distribution across different estuarine habitats found that concentrations and types varied substantially depending on whether samples came from sediment surfaces, burrows of intertidal crabs, or surrounding water. Crabs actively redistributed sediment and created habitat structures that accumulated microplastics differently from the surrounding environment. The findings demonstrate that bioturbation by animals plays an important role in determining where microplastics end up in estuarine sediments.
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