Metabolic rates of Armases cinereum

Metabolic rate is a basic individual metric that extends beyond the individual to link the ecology of populations, communities and ecosystems via its role as a central component of energy budgets. Metabolic rates are often measured indirectly by quantifying respiration under simplified, standard laboratory conditions. This approach limits the application of these measurements to a small range of conditions that commonly do not reflect natural field conditions. We measured metabolic rates of the squareback marsh crab Armases cinereum under field conditions. Previous work highlights that movement of individual A. cinereum, especially females, provides a potential spatial subsidy of energy, as individuals consume energy in salt marshes and then transfer that energy to upland forest ecosystems. We show that metabolic rate increases with size for both males and females and that metabolic rates are influenced by temperature and by whether females are vitellogenic. The metabolic rates that we ..., ,