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Abstract
The North American crayfish Procambarus clarkii is considered among the most invasive freshwater species. However, burrowing behaviour and the possible impact of P. clarkii on levees have not yet been studied in depth. To assess shape, volume and structure of its burrows and the associated behaviour, experiments were conducted introducing two size-matched adult crayfish into an artificial setup and video-recording their behaviour for 96 h. At the end of each replicate, casts of excavated burrows made with polyethylene foam were retrieved. Crayfish (n = 40) dug 17 burrows, six of which having an enlarged terminal chamber. The average excavated levee volume of burrows was 1.9% (0.00528 m3; 5.0256 l) ± 0.86% of the total volume with a maximum of 4% (0.0109 m3; 10.9 l) and the chambers (mean volume of 0.9 ± 0.6 dm3) contributed to up to 50% of the excavated volume. No significant difference between sexes was found for any observed behaviour. Our study also demonstrated how P. clarkii female and male behaviours are similar for burrowing activity. As a result, we quantify the potential pressure exerted by the red swamp crayfish on levees and lastly highlight the observation of cooperating burrowing behaviour of male and female individuals in this species.
Highlights
As an effect of the advancing breakdown of biogeographic barriers, the introduction of alien invasive species is ranked among the main drivers of biodiversity loss (Sala et al 2000; Clavero and Garcıa-Berthou 2006; Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005; Copp et al 2014a, b), and homogenization of ecosystems (Rahel 2002)
These data are important to increase the knowledge of P. clarkii biology and could help develop levee structures that are less vulnerable to the presence of P. clarkii under consideration of burrow structure (Kouba et al 2016)
Our study showed the extent of burrowing behaviour of the invasive P. clarkii in an artificial setup and, in contrast to previous studies (e.g. Huner et al 1984 and Huner 2002 for an overall summary), revealed how similar female and male crayfish are for burrowing activity
Summary
As an effect of the advancing breakdown of biogeographic barriers, the introduction of alien invasive species is ranked among the main drivers of biodiversity loss (Sala et al 2000; Clavero and Garcıa-Berthou 2006; Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005; Copp et al 2014a, b), and homogenization of ecosystems (Rahel 2002). Procambarus clarkii is a successful coloniser in Europe (Souty-Grosset et al 2016), quickly establishing in new and different environments. Procambarus clarkii, widespread in freshwater and even brackish ecosystems (Scalici et al 2010; Souty-Grosset et al 2016), has been recently reported to colonise cave ecosystems (Mazza et al 2014b). It exhibits a wide range of impacts through predation, competition, bioaccumulation and increased eutrophication, and pathogen and disease transmission (Barbaresi and Gherardi 2000; Angeler et al 2001)
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