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Population structure and dynamics of Procambarus clarkii (Girard, 1852) in a Mediterranean brackish wetland (Central Italy)

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Abstract

In 2006 an unusual find of Procambarus clarkii, today considered one of the most dangerous exotic crayfish, was made within the preserved brackish Mediterranean biotope “Palude di Torre Flavia” (Rome, Italy). Here the investigation on the population structure and dynamics of P. clarkii inhabiting this brackish wetland is presented in an attempt to describe the life history pattern in this type of habitat. The present study showed that this species has a lower growth rate and higher longevity than other studied European P. clarkii populations, and that it can damage brackish habitats and human livelihoods. The main results of this study chiefly concern the differences found between several life-history parameters of the studied population and those obtained in previous studies. These results showed the high ecological plasticity of P. clarkii, indicate the need to intervene before the species spreads further in brackish water, for the conservation of Mediterranean coastal habitats.

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Acknowledgments

We are indebted to Dr. Julian D. Reynolds, Department of Zoology, Trinity College, University of Dublin (Ireland), for his helpful suggestions towards improvement of this paper. We would also like to thank Dr. Corrado Battisti of the Province of Rome, Assessorato all’Ambiente, for his logistic support, the Province of Rome which funded this study, and to two anonymous reviewers for their useful comments.

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  1. Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi “Roma Tre”, Viale G. Marconi 446, 00146, Rome, Italy

    Massimiliano Scalici, Stefania Chiesa, Stefano Scuderi, Deborah Celauro & Giancarlo Gibertini

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  1. Massimiliano Scalici
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  2. Stefania Chiesa
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Correspondence to Massimiliano Scalici.

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Scalici, M., Chiesa, S., Scuderi, S. et al. Population structure and dynamics of Procambarus clarkii (Girard, 1852) in a Mediterranean brackish wetland (Central Italy). Biol Invasions 12, 1415–1425 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-009-9557-6

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