Casitas: A location-dependent ecological trap for juvenile Caribbean spiny lobsters, Panulirus argus.

Published source details Gutzler B.C., Butler M.J. & Behringer D.C. (2015) Casitas: A location-dependent ecological trap for juvenile Caribbean spiny lobsters, Panulirus argus.. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 72, 177-184.
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This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

	Action	Category
	Provide artificial shelters Action Link

Provide artificial shelters

A replicated, controlled, before-and-after study in 1997–2002 of nine plots in a reef lagoon with seagrass meadows in the Caribbean Sea, Mexico (Lozano-Álvarez et al. 2010 – same experimental setup as Briones-Fourzàn & Lozano-Álvarez 2001) found that over the 2.5 years after deploying artificial shelters (‘casitas’), abundance of Caribbean spiny lobsters Panulirus argus increased in all plots but more so in plots with artificial shelters than those without, and that lobsters in plots with artificial shelters were bigger. Before deployment, all plots had similar lobster abundance (1.5–8 lobsters/ha). After deployment, abundance increased approximately four times more in plots with artificial shelters (17–83 lobsters/ha) than plots without (5–21 lobsters/ha). Plots with artificial shelters had bigger lobsters (31 mm) than sites without (24 mm). Ten ‘casitas’ (1.1 m², 3.8 cm diameter entrance) were deployed in each of five plots (1 ha) (≤5 m depth) in July 1998. On six occasions before (December 1997–July 1998) and 22 occasions after (September 1998–November 2002) deployment, divers counted all lobsters across each ‘casitas’ plots and at four plots without casitas. For the ‘after’ surveys only, the carapace length of lobsters was also visually estimated.

(Summarised by: Anaëlle Lemasson & Laura Pettit)