Dataset: A. pisonii: range expansion
Deployment: Griffen_mangroves

In order to determine whether the Mangrove Tree Crab has expanded its range northward into salt marsh habitats beyond the range limit of mangroves, we conducted a distributional survey in June, July, and August 2013 along the Atlantic coast of Florida and southern Georgia that included the current mangrove-salt marsh ecotone (i.e., transition zone). The ecotone extends from 28°N to 30°N, with the northernmost mangrove occurring just north of St. Augustine, FL (Cavanaugh et al. 2014, Williams et al. 2014). Our survey spanned 27°33'2'' N to 31°5'32''N latitude, and included two pure mangrove sites, 3 mixed sites with marsh and mangrove vegetation, and 5 pure salt marsh sites (Table 1, Fig. 1). Mangrove Tree Crabs, including ovigerous females, were present at 9 of the 10 survey sites (Table1; Figs. 1, 2). Our 2 northernmost survey sites, Little Satilla Creek, GA, and Jekyll Island, GA, were both at approximately 31°N. We found 5 Mangrove Tree Crabs at Little Satilla Creek, and no individuals at Jekyll Island (Table 1), suggesting that the current northernmost limit of Mangrove Tree Crab occurs at ~31°5'N latitude.