Premium
The use of open burrows to estimate abundances of intertidal estuarine crabs
Author(s) -
WARREN J. H.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
australian journal of ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1442-9993
pISSN - 0307-692X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1442-9993.1990.tb01031.x
Subject(s) - intertidal zone , mangrove , abundance (ecology) , estuary , sampling (signal processing) , ecology , temperate climate , distance sampling , burrow , decapoda , population , abundance estimation , fishery , habitat , biology , environmental science , crustacean , demography , filter (signal processing) , sociology , computer science , computer vision
Estimation of absolute (or true) abundances of intertidal burrowing crabs is a difficult problem in some estuarine habitats because the nature of the substratum and behaviour of crabs can restrict researchers to the use of sampling methods which at best estimate only apparent, or relative, abundances. One method that has been used is to count open burrows to estimate population densities. This paper discusses the results of a test examining the validity of using burrows to estimate apparent abundances of a temperate ocypodid crab, Heloecius cordiformis . inhabiting mangrove forests of south‐eastern Australia. Under appropriate circumstances, this method may provide a quick and reliable estimate of abundance of crabs.