Figure 7. Cuticle mechanical properties.

Box plots (box boundaries = the 25^th and 75^th quartiles, error bars = 1.5 times the interquartile distance, center line = median, diamond = mean) of (a,b) hardness and (c,d) elastic modulus (i.e. stiffness) of the (a,c) carapace and (b,d) merus show that the mechanical properties of the merus are maintained over time across treatments, but the carapace increased in hardness and elastic modulus (stiffness) across treatments between the three- and six-month exposure periods (N = 111). Black dots represent outliers from the box plots that were included in the analyses.