Comparison of Three Burrowing Crayfish Capture Methods Based on Relationships with Species Morphology, Seasonality, and Habitat Quality

Abstract

Abstract Three techniques used to capture burrowing crayfish were compared for efficiency and efficacy near Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge. Excavation of burrows, Norrocky burrowing crayfish trap (NBCT), and burrowing crayfish mist nets (BCN) were simultaneously compared for capture efficiency and trap efficacy. Additional research goals were to evaluate patterns in capture rates with changes in seasonal activity, influence of burrow diameter size to capture success, relationships between differences in morphological characteristics of species and capture success, and capture success and habitat quality. Excavation caught significantly more burrowing crayfish than the other two methods (40.7%), but the NBCT (5.2%) was not significantly different from the BCN (4.5%) in trap efficiency. The relative percent efficacy success adjusted for effort of each method was 2.61% for the NBCT and 2.24% for the BCN. Positive correlations between habitat quality and increasing NBCT (rs = 0.414, P = 0.023) and increasi...