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Associations between stream habitat characteristics and native and alien crayfish occurrence

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Abstract

Human mediated introductions of non-indigenous crayfish species (NICS) are responsible for their rapid colonisation of European freshwaters. The introduction of North American crayfish is furthermore linked to the spread of crayfish plague and the decline of indigenous crayfish species (ICS). As the management of ICS and NICS have become necessary, a detailed knowledge on their distribution and ecological requirements is needed. We studied the current range of native noble crayfish Astacus astacus and stone crayfish Austropotamobius torrentium, as well as alien signal crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus in Carinthia (Austria) and evaluated environmental and physical habitat features in streams with and without crayfish. Meanwhile, the loss of many ICS populations was recorded and alien P. leniusculus was found to be widespread in this region. Most of the habitat features of streams having crayfish differed significantly from sites lacking crayfish for at least one investigated native or alien species. Furthermore, multivariate and regression analyses showed specific differences in the habitat use of the investigated crayfish. Our results showed that the presence of alien P. leniusculus was associated with larger and smoother sloped lowland rivers, while the occurrence of the two native species was confined to smaller streams either at higher altitudes and with distinct physical habitat conditions (A. torrentium) or with moderate water temperatures (A. astacus). This study helps to identify potential refuge areas for the endangered native species and to predict the further spread of the most common non-native crayfish species in European streams.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the University of Innsbruck (PhD scholarship) and the Natural Science Association of Carinthia (NWV), Austria. We thank especially Jürgen Petutschnig, Wolfgang Honsig-Erlenburg and the numerous fishery authorities for providing information on historical and current crayfish distribution and the Carinthian government (Abt.20: Landesplanung, UAbt.Raumordnungskataster—KAGIS, Abt. 18: Wasserwirtschaft) for GIS-layers. We are grateful to Brigitte Weinländer and Josef Weinländer sen. and jun. for their assistance during field work.

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  1. Alpine Stream Ecology and Invertebrate Biology, Institute of Ecology, University of Innsbruck, Technikerstrasse 25, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria

    Martin Weinländer & Leopold Füreder

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  1. Martin Weinländer
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  2. Leopold Füreder
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Correspondence to Martin Weinländer.

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Weinländer, M., Füreder, L. Associations between stream habitat characteristics and native and alien crayfish occurrence. Hydrobiologia 693, 237–249 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-012-1125-x

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