caa a22 4500 445891505 CHVBK 20180317145617.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170323e20110101xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10750-010-0451-0 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10750-010-0451-0 Temporal and spatial patterns of organic carbon are linked to egg deposition by beach spawning horseshoe crabs ( Limulus polyphemus ) [Elektronische Daten] [Mark Botton, Robert Loveland] The spring spawning by the American horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus L.) results in temporally and spatially discrete inputs of eggs onto sandy beaches in Delaware Bay, USA. We tested the hypothesis that seasonal patterns of sediment organic carbon on Delaware Bay beaches is linked to this pulsed input of horseshoe crab eggs. At a location with minimal horseshoe crab spawning activity (Higbee Beach), there was little seasonal variation in sediment organic carbon, no distinction between organic carbon levels as a function of shoreline position or sediment depth, and no significant correlation between the abundance of crab eggs and percent organic carbon. Conversely, at a prime horseshoe crab spawning habitat (North Beach), organic carbon levels were seasonally pulsed and were correlated with egg abundance. Moreover, the strongest evidence of seasonality was seen at the middle foreshore location at the 15-20cm depth, consistent with the highest input of horseshoe crab eggs. Although some of the organic carbon contributed by horseshoe crab eggs in May-June leaves the beach in the form of hatched larvae later in the year, there is a net input of organic carbon to the system in the form of unfertilized and/or dead eggs, egg membranes, and embryonic molts. We suggest that the inputs of eggs from horseshoe crabs and other beach spawning animals, such as grunion and capelin, make significant contributions to the energy budget of sandy beaches. Springer Science+Business Media B.V., 2010 Organic carbon nationallicence Sandy beach nationallicence Eggs nationallicence Horseshoe crab nationallicence Delaware Bay nationallicence Botton Mark Department of Natural Sciences, Fordham College at Lincoln Center, 113 West 60th Street, 10023, New York, NY, USA aut Loveland Robert Department of Ecology Evolution, and Natural Resources, Rutgers, The State University, 08903, New Brunswick, NJ, USA aut Hydrobiologia Springer Netherlands 658/1(2011-01-01), 77-85 0018-8158 658:1<77 2011 658 10750 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-010-0451-0 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-010-0451-0 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Botton Mark Department of Natural Sciences, Fordham College at Lincoln Center, 113 West 60th Street, 10023, New York, NY, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Loveland Robert Department of Ecology Evolution, and Natural Resources, Rutgers, The State University, 08903, New Brunswick, NJ, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Hydrobiologia Springer Netherlands 658/1(2011-01-01), 77-85 0018-8158 658:1<77 2011 658 10750 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer