Changes in precipitation may alter food preference in an ecosystem engineer, the black land crab, .

Gecarcinid land crabs are ecosystem engineers playing an important role in nutrient recycling and seedling propagation in coastal forests. Given a predicted future decline in precipitation for the Caribbean, the effects of dehydration on feeding preferences of the black land crab were investigated. were offered novel food items of lettuce, apple, or herring to test for food choice based on water and nutritional (energetic) content in single and multiple choice experimental designs.