caa a22 4500 386380317 CHVBK 20180307112039.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161130e198908 xx s 000 0 eng 10.1017/S0266467400003746 doi S0266467400003746 pii (NATIONALLICENCE)cambridge-10.1017/S0266467400003746 Red crabs in rain forest, Christmas Island: removal and relocation of leaf-fall [Elektronische Daten] Field experiments comparing leaf-fall in the presence and absence of the red land crab, Gecarcoidea natalis, in rain forest on Christmas Island, Indian Ocean showed that, by eating and returning leaves to their burrows, they significantly reduced accumulation of leaf-fall on the forest floor. Red crabs removed 30-50% of the leaf-fall at the experimental sites during the study. Differences in leaf-fall mass between crab-access and exclusion quadrats were positively correlated with the density of foraging red crabs. Red crabs also generated spatial heterogeneity in the distribution of litter on the forest floor by returning litter to their burrows. Leaves lined chambers of 64% of excavated burrows and litter biomass around the entrances was significantly greater than that on off-burrow locations. This was reflected in the significantly higher concentrations of organic matter and nutrients (N, P, K, Ca, Na, and Mg) associated with soils near burrow entrances. These results suggest that a single species, G. natalis, is the major processor of leaf-fall in rain forest on Christmas Island and may affect (1) the temporal and spatial patterns of nutrient availability and (2) the diversity and biomass of the litter fauna. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989 Christmas Island nationallicence Gecarcoidea natalis nationallicence Indian Ocean nationallicence island nationallicence land crabs nationallicence leaf-fall nationallicence litter nationallicence nutrients nationallicence rain forest nationallicence O'Dowd Dennis J. Department of Botany and Zoology, Monash University, Clayton VIC 3168 Australia Lake P. S. Department of Botany and Zoology, Monash University, Clayton VIC 3168 Australia Journal of Tropical Ecology Cambridge University Press 5/3(1989-08), 337-348 0266-4674 5:3<337 1989 5 TRO https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266467400003746 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266467400003746 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- O'Dowd Dennis J. Department of Botany and Zoology, Monash University, Clayton VIC 3168 Australia NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Lake P. S. Department of Botany and Zoology, Monash University, Clayton VIC 3168 Australia NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Journal of Tropical Ecology Cambridge University Press 5/3(1989-08), 337-348 0266-4674 5:3<337 1989 5 TRO CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence SWISSBIB 386380317 BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-cambridge