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Climate change facilitates northern expansion of an estuarine decapod ecosystem engineer

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Status:
Completed

Overview

We conducted a survey of saltmarshes north of Cape Cod to determine if decapod crustaceans were responding to recent ocean warming trends. We have shown that crabs, notably fiddle crabs and blue crabs, are expanding their range northward in response to warmer ocean temperatures. Information from this project will allow managers to understand changes to saltmarsh communities and function releated to climate change.