Thermal biology of fiddler crabs

Marine organisms are facing unprecedent challenges due to climate change. Understand how those changes, especially temperaure increase, will affect organisms is essential. In this project we used an intertidal organism, which is in the interface between land and ocean, to study the effects of temperature increase and dessication on the organismal physiology. We compared the effects in two fiddler crab species which inhabits distinct areas of the mangrove (one more exposed to desiccation stress and the other in shadowed areas). We are also employing new techiniques to understand how those organisms deal with thermal control (still ongoing).