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The crayfish distribution, feeding plasticity, seasonal isotopic variation and trophic role across ontogeny and habitat in a canyon-shaped reservoir

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Abstract

Man-made reservoirs are important freshwater ecosystems as they are globally common and share features of both standing and running waters. In streams and lakes, crayfish are an important component of freshwater ecosystems due to their habitat-modifying behaviour, substantial size, omnivorous feeding and often high abundance; however, their trophic role in reservoirs is not known. We evaluated the distribution and diet of noble crayfish (Astacus astacus) in the canyon-shaped, oligotrophic Nýrsko reservoir in West Bohemia region, Czech Republic. Using stable isotope analysis, we quantified the trophic level of all major components of the reservoir food web and investigated seasonal isotopic variation and how the trophic role of noble crayfish varied with habitat and ontogeny. Crayfish were an important food source for both predatory and omnivorous fish and consumed food sources from multiple trophic levels, including detritus, algae, zoobenthos and other crayfish. Throughout ontogeny, crayfish had similar levels of carnivory, but cannibalism was more prevalent in adult crayfish, while juveniles and sub-adults fed more on other zoobenthos. Moreover, crayfish had high feeding plasticity in time, as the relative importance of dominant food sources varied with season. Their feeding plasticity was especially evident in crayfish populations from different habitats, which adapted their feeding strategy to local resources. In addition, pelagic source usage increased with the depth as detritus and algae usage decreased. Proportion of females increased with the depth, while population density showed a unimodal response to the depth gradient. These findings indicate that crayfish are indeed ecologically important species with both direct and indirect roles in the trophic web of this reservoir ecosystem.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports of the Czech Republic (Projects CENAKVA – CZ.1.05/2.1.00/01.0024, and CENAKVA II – LO1205 under the NPU I Programme). We also thank two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments. The authors declare no potential sources of conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses, Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Zátiší 728/II, 38925, Vodňany, Czech Republic

    Lukáš Veselý, Martin Bláha, Jan Kubec, Miloš Buřič & Antonín Kouba

  2. Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, 40014, Jyvaskyla, Finland

    Fabio Ercoli, Timo J. Ruokonen & Heikki Hämäläinen

  3. Chair of Hydrobiology and Fishery, Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Kreutzwaldi 5, 51006, Tartu, Estonia

    Fabio Ercoli

  4. Natural Resources Finland, Jyväskylä, Survontie 9 A, 40500, Jyvaskyla, Finland

    Timo J. Ruokonen

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  1. Lukáš Veselý
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  2. Fabio Ercoli
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  3. Timo J. Ruokonen
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Contributions

LV proposed the study. LV, AK, MB, MB and JK conducted field sampling. LV, TR and FE prepared and did analyses of samples on mass spectrometry. LV wrote the first draft of the manuscript and conducted data analyses. All authors provided comments and additional revisions of the text.

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Correspondence to Lukáš Veselý.

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Veselý, L., Ercoli, F., Ruokonen, T.J. et al. The crayfish distribution, feeding plasticity, seasonal isotopic variation and trophic role across ontogeny and habitat in a canyon-shaped reservoir. Aquat Ecol 54, 1169–1183 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-020-09801-w

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