Environmental factors influencing local distributions of European green crab (Carcinus maenas) for modeling and management applications

Environmental factors determine the habitat selection, use and distribution of species at various spatial scales. Understanding the factors driving these distributions can help predict areas of higher species occurrence, and be used in species conservation, and management strategies. In this study we reviewed 71 publications to evaluate the most relevant factors shaping local, fine-scale distribution of a globally invasive species, the European green crab (Carcinus maenas). We compared these studies to determine how factors differ (i) between adult and juvenile life stages, (ii) with the influence of internal and temporal variables, and (iii) among clades. Factors of depth, biotic interactions, vegetation, presence of shelter and salinity were found to be important, although the supporting evidence varied between juvenile and adult stages. Internal variables of size, carapace color and sex, and temporal variables such as seasonal, tidal and diel cycles played a role in determining how crabs responded to e...