Distribution and relative abundance of the crayfishes Procambarus alleni (Faxon) and P. fallax (Hagen) in Southern Florida

Hendrix, A. Noble; Loftus, William F.

doi:10.1672/0277-5212(2000)020[0194:daraot]2.0.co;2

Cited by 38 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…P. alleni readily burrow into the substrate rather than seeking deeper water during the dry season, and their reproduction seems to be tied to the onset of the rainy season when their young are released over the marsh surface (see biology review in Acosta & Perry, 2001, 2002). Far less is known about the previously mis‐identified P. fallax that is more often found in sloughs (Hendrix & Loftus, 2000). Although each species can be found alone in some areas of the Everglades ecosystem (N. J. Dorn & J. C. Trexler, unpubl.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The freshwater Everglades are inhabited by a pair of indigenous procambarid crayfishes that seem to exhibit local turnover based on habitat permanence (Hendrix & Loftus, 2000). Unlike a series of isolated ponds that inspired the habitat‐template model, the shallow (mostly <1 m deep) wetlands of the freshwater Everglades consist of a mosaic of aquatic habitats in a slow‐flowing (<1 cm s −1 ) riverine landscape with subtle but predictable gradients of depth and hydroperiod.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Crayfish assemblage shifts in a large drought‐prone wetland: the roles of hydrology and competition

Dorn

Trexler

2007

Freshwater Biology

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1. Faster growing, larger and/or more aggressive crayfish species are predicted to dominate permanent waterbodies. We tested this prediction using a 9 year dataset for two species of crayfish (Procambarus alleni and Procambarus fallax) co-existing in a sub-tropical flowing slough in southern Florida. Using a series of laboratory and mesocosm experiments we also compared life history traits and performance of the respective species to test mechanisms that could explain dominance shifts in the local crayfish assemblages. 2. Over the 9-year period, P. alleni densities were the greatest in shallower, shorterhydroperiod areas bordering the slough, while P. fallax densities were higher in deeper, longer-hydroperiod central areas. These areas were separated by 0.8-2 km of continuous wetland with no apparent barriers to movement between them. 3. Density of P. fallax was not strongly affected by any measures of hydrological variation, while P. alleni density increased with more severe drought conditions. Following the strongest droughts, P. alleni colonized areas in the centre of the slough where they had been absent or scarce in wetter years. 4. We conducted experiments to compare growth rates, drought tolerance, and competitive dominance of these species. P. alleni survived drought conditions better, had higher growth rates, and was the dominant competitor for space and food. While drought probably limits P. fallax in the drier slough habitats, neither drought sensitivity nor interspecific competition with P. fallax can explain decreases of P. alleni with wetter conditions. 5. Our results indicate that a competition-colonization tradeoff cannot explain the crayfish compositional dynamics in this wetland because P. alleni is both the best competitor and the best at surviving in and colonizing areas with the strongest droughts. Future attention should focus on the potential for selective effects of predators that co-vary with hydrology. 6. The traits (large size, fast growth, competitive dominance) exhibited by P. alleni, which is absent in long-hydroperiod wetlands, are those exhibited by dominant crayfish in permanent lakes and streams containing fish. Although these traits make crayfish less vulnerable to fish in some lakes and streams, life-history models of community structure across permanence gradients suggest the opposite traits should be favoured for co-existence with fish.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crayfish assemblage shifts in a large drought‐prone wetland: the roles of hydrology and competition

Dorn

Trexler

2007

Freshwater Biology

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“…All eVorts were employed equally in every experimental wetland and included minnow trapping, additional throw traps and 1-m bar seine sweeps in areas with previously undisturbed vegetation. Recovered crayWsh were preserved and moved to the laboratory where they were identiWed to species using reproductive organs and coloration (Hendrix and Loftus 2000) and measured to the nearest 0.1 mm CL. We converted CL to dry mass (g) using regressions (Online Resource 3).…”

Section: Sunwsh Evects On the Craywsh Assemblagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…) are prominent members of the shallow wetland communities in south Florida; they make up a large portion of macroinvertebrate standing stocks (Turner et al 1999) and densities commonly range from 2 to 10 m ¡2 . Two species of crayWsh Procambarus fallax (the Slough crayWsh) and Procambarus alleni (the Everglades crayWsh) (Hendrix and Loftus 2000;Dorn and Trexler 2007) inhabit the Everglades, and although there are no strict habitat boundaries delineating temporary, semi-permanent and permanent wetlands in the Everglades, P. alleni dominates most short-hydroperiod areas that dry annually in the winter, while P. fallax tends to dominate sloughs (i.e., shallow Xowing wetlands) with longer hydroperiods and infrequent dry-disturbances (Hendrix and Loftus 2000;Dorn and Trexler 2007). Within a single slough, the crayWsh composition can switch between years depending on the recent history of drying events (Dorn and Trexler 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consumptive effects of fish reduce wetland crayfish recruitment and drive species turnover

Kellogg

Dorn

2011

Oecologia

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Predators and dry-disturbances have pronounced effects on invertebrate communities and can deterministically affect compositional turnover between discrete aquatic habitats. We examined the effect of sunfish (Lepomis spp.) predators on two native crayfish, Procambarus alleni and P. fallax, that regionally coexist in an expansive connected wetland in order to test the hypotheses that sunfish predation limits crayfish recruitment (both species) and that it disproportionately affects P. alleni, the species inhabiting temporary wetlands. In replicate vegetated wetlands (18.6 m(2)), we quantified summertime crayfish recruitment and species composition across an experimental gradient of sunfish density. Separately, we quantified effects of sunfish on crayfish growth, conducted a complimentary predation assay in mesocosms, and compared behavior of the two crayfish. Sunfish reduced P. alleni summertime recruitment by >99% over the full sunfish gradient, and most of the effect was caused by low densities of sunfish (0.22-0.43 m(-2)). P. alleni dominated wetlands with few or no sunfish, but the composition shifted towards P. fallax dominance in wetlands with abundant sunfish. P. fallax survived better than P. alleni over 40 h in smaller mesocosms stocked with warmouth. Sunfish reduced P. fallax recruitment 62% in a second wetland experiment, but growth rates of caged crayfish (both species) were unaffected by sunfish presence, suggesting predatory effects were primarily consumptive. Consistent with life histories of relatively fish-sensitive invertebrates, P. alleni engaged in more risky behaviors in the laboratory. Our results indicate that sunfish predators limit recruitment of both species, but disproportionately remove the more active and competitively dominant P. alleni. Spatially and temporally variable dry-disturbances negatively co-varying with sunfish populations allow for regional coexistence of these two crayfish and may release populations of either species from control by predatory fishes.

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“…They are probably the closest relatives to marbled crayfish (Martin et al, 2016). Sometimes they live in sympatry in fresh waters (Hendrix and Loftus, 2000;Martin et al, 2010), but it seems that salinity is an important factor in the separation of these two species in brackish conditions (Hendrix and Loftus, 2000). Everglades crayfish can inhabit saline environments in a range of 0-18 ppt (Hendrix and Loftus, 2000), but we are not aware of any study evaluating salinity tolerance in slough crayfish.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Salinity tolerance of marbled crayfishProcambarus fallaxf.virginalis

Veselý¹,

Hrbek²,

Kozák³

et al. 2017

Knowl. Manag. Aquat. Ecosyst.

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-Eastern Europe comprises a significant part of the native ranges for indigenous crayfish species (ICS) belonging to the genus Astacus. This region has been largely overlooked by astacologists and considered relatively immune to the impacts of non-indigenous crayfish species (NICS). The recent discovery of two marbled crayfish Procambarus fallax f. virginalis populations in Ukraine has changed this view. Increased propagule pressure (mainly due to pet trade) has raised concerns of NICS which may negatively impair the ecosystems of Azov, Black and Caspian Seas and their tributaries inhabited by ICS. In this study, we provide the first insight into salinity tolerance of marbled crayfish. We performed a 155-day experiment using 5 different salinities (6, 9, 12, 15, and 18 ppt) and a freshwater control. Evaluation of survival, growth and reproduction suggests that marbled crayfish have a lower salinity tolerance than other crayfish species, which may limit their invasive potential in brackish environments. However, its ability to survive for more than 80 days at 18 ppt opens up the possibility of gradual dispersion and adaptation to brackish conditions. Our study highlights the need for further studies elucidating the potential for marbled crayfish to negatively impair these ecosystems.Keywords: brackish environment / growth / reproduction / moult / survival Résumé -Tolérance à la salinité de l'écrevisse marbrée Procambarus fallax f. virginalis. L'Europe de l'Est comprend une partie importante des régions abritant des espèces indigènes d'écrevisses (ICS) appartenant au genre Astacus. Cette région a été largement ignorée par les astacologues et considérée comme relativement protégée des impacts des espèces d'écrevisses non indigènes (NICS). La découverte récente de deux populations d'écrevisses marbrées Procambarus fallax f. virginalis en Ukraine ont changé cette vision. Le potentiel d'augmentation de la pression des propagules (principalement en raison du commerce des animaux de compagnie) a soulevé des préoccupations concernant les NICS qui pourraient nuire aux écosystèmes des mers d'Azov, Noire et Caspienne et à leurs affluents habités par des ICS. Dans cette étude, nous fournissons le premier aperçu de la tolérance à la salinité des écrevisses marbrées. Nous avons effectué une expérience de 155 jours en utilisant 5 salinités différentes (6, 9, 12, 15, 18 ppt) et un contrôle d'eau douce. L'évaluation de la survie, de la croissance et de la reproduction suggère que les écrevisses marbrées ont une tolérance à la salinité plus faible que les autres espèces d'écrevisses, ce qui peut limiter leur potentiel invasif dans les milieux saumâtres. Cependant, sa capacité à survivre pendant plus de 80 jours à 18 ppt ouvre la possibilité d'une dispersion progressive et d'une adaptation aux conditions saumâtres. Notre étude souligne la nécessité de poursuivre les études permettant d'éclaircir le potentiel de l'écrevisse marbrée à nuire négativement à ces écosystèmes.

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Distribution and relative abundance of the crayfishes Procambarus alleni (Faxon) and P. fallax (Hagen) in Southern Florida

Cited by 38 publications

References 10 publications

Crayfish assemblage shifts in a large drought‐prone wetland: the roles of hydrology and competition

Crayfish assemblage shifts in a large drought‐prone wetland: the roles of hydrology and competition

Consumptive effects of fish reduce wetland crayfish recruitment and drive species turnover

Salinity tolerance of marbled crayfishProcambarus fallaxf.virginalis

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