22 June 2016

Chucholl, 2016b

Chucholl C. 2016b. The bad and the super-bad: prioritising the threat of six invasive alien to three imperilled native crayfishes. Biological Invasions 18(7): 1967-1988. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10530-016-1141-2

Abstract

Multiple species invasions and limited resources for management require prioritisation of deleterious effects of invaders on imperilled native species. This study prioritises the threat of six non-indigenous crayfish species (NICS) to three indigenous crayfish species (ICS) in southwestern Germany, a European region with high diversity of crayfish species and freshwater habitats. Using multivariate statistical analyses and niche-based species distribution models, the (1) contemporary and potential range overlap, (2) habitat overlap, and (3) rate of spread of the nine species were assessed. Predicted and contemporary range overlap with ICS was consistently the highest for the alien signal crayfish. Environmental niches of ICS tended to be associated with cooler temperatures (except for white-clawed crayfish), lower Human Influence Index, and higher terrain slope than that of alien Orconectes and Procambarus species, but were mostly similar to that of signal crayfish. Habitat overlap was found to be the highest between signal crayfish and ICS. In contrast to Orconectes and Procambarus species, signal crayfish also invade headwaters, where the most ICS populations occur. Range expansion during the past 15 years was the highest for signal crayfish, followed by Orconectes species. Because of the great potential to invade as-yet isolated refuge areas and spread at a high rate, signal crayfish is of the highest concern for conservation of ICS and should be primarily targeted by prevention and control measures. However, it merely represents the ‘worst of the worst’, since all NICS of North American origin are natural reservoirs of crayfish plague, a fatal disease of ICS.

Keywords: aquatic invaders • risk assessment • Crustacea • distribution models • habitat association

Lipták and colleagues, 2016

Lipták B, Mrugala A, Pekárik L, Mutkovic A, Grula D, Petrusek A, Kouba A. 2016. Expansion of the marbled crayfish in Slovakia: beginning of an invasion in the Danube catchment? Journal of Limnology 75(2): 305-312. http://dx.doi.org/10.4081/jlimnol.2016.1313

Abstract

The marbled crayfish, Procambarus fallax f. virginalis, is a taxon widely available in the aquarium pet trade, which has been introduced to open waters in several European countries and in Madagascar. Recent studies confirmed this parthenogenetically reproducing crayfish as a high-risk invasive species, and vector of the crayfish plague pathogen, Aphanomyces astaci. It has been first discovered in Slovakia in 2010, but the status of the local population was not studied since then. Due to enlarged sampling area around the first report and one locality, where we presupposed the crayfish occurrence, we identified new marbled crayfish populations. Here, we report presence of three newly established marbled crayfish populations in Slovakia. Two populations are located critically close to the Váh River, a major tributary of the Danube River; one of them being directly connected to the Váh River via a side channel during occasional floods. The third established marbled crayfish population was found at the mouth of a thermal stream flowing into the Nitra River, a tributary of the Váh River. In this stream, crayfish coexist with other exotic fish and gastropod species of aquarium origin. We presume that the reported localities may serve as a source for further expansion of the marbled crayfish in the mid-part of the Danube catchment. Floods, active dispersal (including overland), passive dispersal by zoochory or anthropogenic translocations are among the major drivers facilitating the marbled crayfish colonization. We have not detected the crayfish plague pathogen in any of the studied populations. However, if spreading further, the marbled crayfish will encounter established populations of crayfish plague carriers in the Danube River, in which case they may acquire the pathogen by horizontal transmission and contribute to spread of this disease to indigenous European crayfish species.

Keywords: aquarium pet trade • crayfish plague • freshwater crayfish • Procambarus fallax f. virginalis • species introductions

11 June 2016

Chatila, 2016

Chatila Z. 2016. Lentiviral GFP transfection of the parthenogenic crayfish species, Procambarus fallax: a tool for examining the source of neural precursor cells in crayfish. Undergraduate honors thesis, Neuroscience, Wellesley College. http://repository.wellesley.edu/thesiscollection/345/

Abstract

The thesis is embargoed online until 22 April 2018. I am attempting to get a copy of the abstract to place here earlier than that.