Search results for "Astacus"

Indirect effects of invasive crayfish on native fish parasites

2013

Interactions between invasive and native species are often modified by parasites. One little-studied scenario is that invasive species affect parasite transmission to native hosts by altering the relative abundance of hosts needed in parasite life cycles, for example by predation on these hosts. Here we show that presence of an invasive crayfish species, Pacifastacus leniusculus, decreases the mean abundance of native parasites transmitted from snails and aquatic isopods to perch, Perca fluviatilis, in two large boreal lakes in Finland. In contrast, parasites transmitted to the fish from planktonic copepods or mussels, hosts not readily preyed on by crayfish, were not affected by crayfish p…

Temperature adaptation influences the aggregation state of hemocyanin from Astacus leptodactylus.

2000

When Astacus leptodactylus were kept at various temperatures for several weeks, different ratios between di-hexameric and hexameric hemocyanins were observed in their hemolymph. The higher the temperature the more hexamers were present. This long-term adaptation to different temperatures or/and to temperature-induced pH-shifts as observed in the hemolymph has different effects on the expression of subunit types building up hexamers and those which covalently link two hexamers within the di-hexamers. The oxygen binding behaviour of di-hexameric hemocyanins from cold and warm adapted animals do not show differences with respect to affinity, Bohr effect and cooperativity.

Crayfish predation on mussels : an experimental approach

2013

Tässä työssä tutkittiin kokeellisesti rapujen simpukoihin kohdistuvaa predaatiota. Käytetyt rapulajit olivat jokirapu Astacus astacus ja amerikkalainen tulokaslaji täplärapu Pascifastacus leniusculus. Jokirapupredaatiota tutkittiin pikkujärvisimpukalla Anodonta anatina ja täplärapupredaatiota pikkujärvisimpukalla sekä jokihelmisimpukalla Margaritifera margaritifera Kokeissa ravut laitettiin yksittäin 15 litran läpivirtausaltaisiin simpukan/simpukoiden kanssa. Täplärapu osoittautui tehokkaammaksi predaattoriksi onnistuen aukaisemaan seitsemän 42:sta Anodontasta. Jokirapu ei saanut avattua yhtään 37:stä Anodontasta. Aukaisemisen ja pehmytosien syömisen lisäksi rapujen havaittiin nakertavan si…

Effects of an invasive crayfish on the littoral macroinvertebrates of large boreal lakes are habitat specific

2013

Summary Invasive crayfish are widely acknowledged to have negative effects on benthic food webs in lakes, but few studies have investigated such effects at wider spatial scales and in varying habitats under natural conditions. We examined the effects of introduced signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) on the macroinvertebrate assemblages of different habitats in two large boreal lakes. We evaluated whether the density, taxon richness and species composition are altered by the non-native crayfish and whether the responses are similar for stony and vegetated habitats and across a depth gradient. We also studied the influence of crayfish on periphyton biomass at stony sites, as a potentia…

The introduced signal crayfish and native noble crayfish have different effects on sublittoral macroinvertebrate assemblages in boreal lakes

2015

Elimination and distribution of different substituted phenols by frog (Rana temporaria) and crayfish (Astacus leptodactylus)

1981

A STUDY ON THE POSSIBLE EFFECT OF TWO CRAYFISH SPECIES ON EPILITHIC ALGAE IN A MOUNTAIN STREAM FROM CENTRAL SPAIN

2006

The effects on epilithic algae of increasing densities of two crayfish species, Austropotamobius italicus and Pacifastacus leniusculus, the latter recently introduced in Spain, have been monitored using riverine enclosures, within a large experimental study on crayfish-macrobenthos interactions in a mountain stream. A 3-month test was carried out for each species using crayfish densities comprising between 0-5 individuals/m2 kept in 1-m2 enclosures. Epilithon was sampled periodically within the enclosures and chlorophyll a, b and c were measured by spectrophotometry. Neither statistically significant positive nor negative effects were observed on algal abundance (Chl concentrations) during …

Predation by signal crayfishPacifastacus leniusculuson fish eggs and its consequences for coregonid recruitment

2015

The character and magnitude of predation by the invasive, ectothermic Pacifastacus leniusculus, a crayfish widely introduced to Europe and Japan from North America, on the eggs of coregonid fishes, vendace Coregonus albula and whitefish Coregonus lavaretus were examined by experimentation, modelling and field data. The present results showed that P. leniusculus has the potential to be very efficient predator of fish eggs under winter conditions, but the predation by P. leniusculus did not significantly decrease production of coregonid larvae during the years with a high P. leniusculus population in the study lake. Hence, the mortality caused by the novel invertebrate predator appeared to co…

Interannual variation in littoral benthic macroinvertebrate communities under contrasting crayfish predation in a large boreal lake

2014

Long term studies are widely used nowadays in many fields of ecology. For instance, records over years represent a valuable tool to monitor and comprehend environmental changes. In freshwater ecology, long term studies are often applied in restoration effect assessments using a before-after-control-impact design. Little is known about the long term effects of freshwater predators on their prey, for example of how crayfish as omnivorous predators affect macroinvertebrate prey communities. Bottom substrate of stony littoral shores in three sites of Lake Päijänne, in Central Finland, were sampled for macroinvertebrates (MI) during five consecutive years and identified mainly to species. Of the…

Invasive crayfish increase habitat connectivity: a case study in a large boreal lake

2013

Several studies have shown that distinct compartments of lake ecosystems are coupled via transportation of organic matter, nutrients and energy across habitat boundaries. Here we evaluate the potential of the invasive signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus (Dana)) to modify energy pathways in large boreal lakes. Using a stable isotope mixing model and calculation of the isotopic niches we estimated the contribution of different food sources to the diets of crayfish captured from different habitats, and from that inferred their potential to transport energy across the littoral-profundal gradient. The crayfish caught from the littoral area utilized mainly littoral food sources, whereas the…